Curing Emerald
by HolydaughterofZeus
Summary: Emerald has been locked-up for five years. While other savant girls are tested on, she's in solitary confinement. When, one day, she's taken and questioned about her past and her soulfinder, everything changes and she's rescued by the Net. Giving her to the Benedicts, the Net want her cured, but can the Benedicts do that when she hates them all? Especially happy-go-lucky Will?
1. Chapter 1 Emerald

_**Emerald**_

I sit and stare. My legs criss-crossed and my back hunched over. My hair hanging in front of my face and my eyes glazed over. My jaw is clenched and my arms are leaning on my thighs. Thoughts swirl around my head. My fingers tap out a meaningless tune on my leg and I lick my cracked lips.

Then the door opens.

They are releasing me. Letting me out. Taking me somewhere. Showing me around.

They really don't get this whole "solitary confinement" thing.

My lips curve up slightly at the thought as I am grabbed roughly by the arms and dragged up, on to my feet. I go limp, not really feeling up to a walk and one of the guards curses and digs his nails into my arms. The other guard shakes me violently.

I do not react.

They bring me out of the padded room. Leaving the squishy walls behind. They have to be padded just in case. In case I try to kill myself. The people who are in charge are smart. 379 days ago I would never have even considered committing suicide. Nowadays, it is all I think about.

My feet are dragging on the linoleum floor as we pass room after room of girls and women. Some no older then ten and some who could be in their eighties. Some come closer to the tight, metal mesh keeping them from freedom, some barely blink an eye as I pass, while others start to scream and cry.

_Oh. _I think. _They recognise me._

_Where am I going?  
_

Some girls who have been here long enough remember me from one year and two weeks ago, when the guards had ripped me from my cell – a cell that had been exactly like theirs, when _I _was exactly like them – and brought me to the padded room and into my new Hell.

Solitary confinement.

I only ever have guards as visitors once a week. Once a week two guards who are fully armed – and male – will escort me to the second door in my padded Hell. They will escort me to a room with a shower where I would have to wash myself with four eyes on me. I'd have ten minutes and then I would be dragged back into my padded room.

The only thing in my room is some padding and a metal hole in the floor with a roll of toilet paper. A proper toilet would be too risky. Ceramic is good for slicing things.

I am brought back to the present situation as more and more screams fill up the hallway. The screams bounce off the off-white walls and cracked linoleum. The artificial light makes me squint and I want to press my hands to my ears because of the noise these girls are making.

I should be worried for myself. For what is about to happen, but mostly I'm just praying for someone to shut those damn girls up.

But no.

The screams of the girls echo around the place. I can only assume they are screaming because they thought I had been set free months and months ago. They had thought I had been saved. Granted a reprieve, and released. They had assumed that their dream had come true for one girl, so there was hope for them.

But I wasn't set free. I was thrown into a sound proof room where nobody could hear my screams. I was locked away like a dark, little secret. All of us are secrets, we're all this place's little secret, as nobody knows about us. But I was darker. Dirtier. Not even the other secrets new what had happened to me.

But now they do.

My hair covers my face in greasy, bedraggled dreadlocks, as it always does. Once upon time my hair was a vibrant, sparkling red. My skin glowed with creamy life and my cheeks were constantly flushed a bright pink, as I blushed a lot. My whole being screamed _alive!_ My personality and mind screamed _innocence! _And everything about me screamed _young!_

I feel as if I am none of those things now.

As we come to a steel door that I have not seen since my last trip out months ago, I see two more guards up ahead, guns at the ready and trained on me.

One of them puts his weapon down and opens the door, but the other man doesn't waver. My guards march me through the door and into a lobby.

I blink beneath the red curtain hiding my face as I take in the place.

It's empty of any living soul. There are three dark brown leather couches, with a mahogany table with magazines on top of it. I can only assume that part is for people who are waiting for something.

A savant who has been taken and locked-up for, what seems like, a millennium?

_Ooh, I wonder if you can buy us on E-bay._

I drag my eyes from the left and look to the right to see an empty reception desk with piles of paper on top of it and phones.

I don't have long to look as the guards quickly drag me away and into a dimly lit corridor where we pass dark walls. A big, black door looms at the end of this dark place and suddenly, I feel terrified.

_This is it._

They are going to kill me. They are going to experiment on me and kill me. They are going to torture me, try to figure out my power, my savant ability.

But I won't. I can't. I promised myself five years ago that they would not find out what I can do and I'll keep that promise.

The guards stop at the door and I stand, keeping my head bowed and looking up through my copper lashes. The door opens of its own accord - it must have a motion detector – and soon, I am being dragged through it and into the room.

I am marched over and then deposited onto a wooden chair, where I sit and keep my head bowed. Unwilling to show my face.

A man is sitting in front of me, across a metal table. He has tanned skin and dark stubble. Mousy brown hair and blue eyes. Handsome I suppose, but with the way he's looking at me, I want to kill him. If my skin will stop crawling.

The walls are black and shinning, gleaming under the harsh light. The floors are the same and the room is cold. Goosebumps appear under my hospital-type gown and I cross my legs and refrain myself from crossing my arms over my chest.

The man across from me sits there, staring at me, waiting for me to crack. But I've not spoken to someone in over a year and half a month, I can deal with silence for a few more minutes.

He cracks first.

He smiles, showing off gleaming teeth and he runs a hand through his hair.

"Good afternoon, girl. How was your journey?" His voice is smooth and thick and I recognise the accent as one from Boston.

I remain silent and just stare at the man, but with my hair covering my face, he doesn't know that.

His smiles becomes broader. "My names Thomas, but you can call me Tom." I highly doubt this man has told me his real name, but I don't contradict him.

He glances behind me, to my guards and raises a bushy eyebrow.

"She doesn't speak." One of my guards tells him and I'm surprised he can actually say anything but curse words. After all, it's all I've heard from him.

"Doesn't speak, eh? Well, we'll have to change that, won't we?" He leans forward on his arms and tries to see me from behind the greasy strands, but I remain aloof. He frowns and rubs his chin.

"Listen, girl. I'm going to be blunt. You talk, and this won't have to get bad, 'kay? And I'm a big guy, and those guys have guns, so this can get very bad, very quickly."

I decide to humour him.

"What do you want to know?" My voice is gravelly and hoarse and comes out as a whisper, but it's still there.

Thomas smiles at the victory. It's the only one he's getting.

He leans back in his chair. "Tell me how old you are."

"Nineteen." I say.

He nods. "And when'll you be twenty?"

"Two months." If my calculations are correct, that is.

His grin widens and his eyes glint. "That's perfect."

_For what?_

He leans forward again.

"Tell me, girl, have you thought about him? Wondered?"

And there it is, that feeling. That feeling I get when ever I seriously feel like ending it all. That gut-wrenching, breath-taking feeling. The one that fills my stomach with dread and eyes with tears.

But I swallow hard and the tears recede. I wait a second for my voice to strengthen to make sure it doesn't crack.

"About who?"

He grins because he knows I'm playing dumb.

"Your soulfinder."

**Author's Note:**** I hope you enjoyed it and I'll update regularly. I love The Benedict Brothers series and I love Joss Stirling. Xavier is my favorite, but as we know Crystal is his soulfinder and the book's coming out soon, I decide to do Will, as I like him too. **


	2. Chapter 2 Emerald

_**Emerald**_

"Lift that head up; I wanna see your pretty, little face." Thomas says a moment later as thoughts swirl.

I shake my head. At his question or to try and get thoughts of a magical, handsome Prince Charming galloping up to me and rescuing me from this dank, dark Hell, I don't know.

His eyes narrow and before I can even blink he's lunged. The table is thrown to my right and he grabs my chin and pushes my face up. My hair slides off my face and I can see him clearly. And he can see me clearly too.

The guards grab my hands before I can claw at his face with my jagged nails and Thomas pushes more of my hair out of my face. He hooks the locks behind my ears and gazes at me for a few minutes. His eyes travel up and down my face, raking over my nose and looking deeply into my eyes.

"Oh, that boy is a lucky bastard." He murmurs to himself and I close my eyes as the familiar ache washes over me. The ache for my soulfinder to be here. For me to be in his arms and for him to tell me how much of a "lucky bastard" he was.

After another minute of staring he releases my chin and takes a step back. After the guards fix his chair and table he sits back down, getting his calm back.

He smiles at me and suddenly I feel naked.

This was not how it was supposed to go.

I'm always in control!

"Tell me, girl. What's your name?" His eyes sparkle with amusement and I don't believe, for a second, that he doesn't know my name.

"Emerald." And _oh_ I haven't heard my name for so long. I haven't heard someone say it, speak it. The last person to say it was my mom and she didn't say it.

She screamed it.

"I know why."

I roll my eyes.

_Everyone does, genius._

"What do you want with me?" I demand as I cross my arms over my chest. Thomas just smiles pleasantly.

"Other than your beauty and your wonderful conversational skills?"

I roll my eyes again at the sarcasm. "Yes, apart from those vital things."

_I've been kept prisoner for five years. I deserve answers._ I think, but really, I deserve nothing.

"Well, your beauty for one. That's always a plus; having a pretty face around." He shrugs. "Your intelligence. As you know, you've been monitored all these years, and some time before you were even taken as well." He taps his mouth with his index finger. "Your power, though unknown, coming from two extremely powerful savants will give you an extremely powerful child, don't you think?"

I flinch at the mention of my parents. I can't help it and it happens.

He sees my reaction and leans forward with a sly grin.

"Struck a nerve, have I?"

I remain silent.

_Shut up, Emerald shut your damn mouth!_

Jeez, I'm aggro today.

"Tell me, girl, where are you from?"

"Australia." It slips out and then I literally have to bite my tongue to stop myself from speaking, but I haven't talked to someone in _so long_ and I need to speak. I need to tell someone everything.

EVERYTHING!

But I don't, because I am a Savage and like my dad used to say "we stand strong, we stay strong". At the time, that saying meant nothing. Now, it is like a mantra, keeping me alive and strong.

But it does not keep me sane.

Nothing keeps me sane.

"Do you miss your home? I hear you were a beach kind of girl."

The beach, the sea. The sand, the waves. My board beneath my feet and the taste of salt water on my lips. How it would feel to scissor through the sea, my hair going in red ripples down my back as my legs kicked furiously and my arms slashed through the water.

I blink and the thoughts and dreams and memories vanish. Along with the taste of salt water and the dream to, one day, return.

"No." I say, my voice low, calm and monotone. "There's nothing left there anymore."

"Nothing left for _you_, you mean." He purses his lips. "Well, no _one_."

I stiffen.

"Do you miss your parents, Emerald?"

It is the first time in five years my name has been spoken by someone other than myself. I hate the way he says it, like he knows me. Like he knows who I was and what I am now.

Doesn't he understand that he knows nothing?

I am not broken. I'm worse than broken. I'm…

Nothing.

"No." And Thomas blinks at my voice. How calm and measured it is. How not one trace of it is a lie.

Or is it?

"Tell me what you want." I demand, because I'm sick of this. I want to be taken back to my solitary confinement, because I haven't realised how nice it is. How nice it is to be alone, but I know it's not nice. It's not a good thing to like being alone for days and days and days.

I. Am. Screwed. Up.

"I want you, Emerald." Thomas leans forward. "I want you and your pretty face and your witty comments and your intelligence. But most of all, I need you Emerald. I need you."

I swallow hard as my throat dries up and Thomas slowly makes his way over to me. This man is not a savant. He is not a savant because he pushed the table away when he was angry. And he's not used telepathy, or even mentioned him being a savant. And I know, I just _know_ he's not a savant.

"I need you." He says again as he pushes the table away from us and slowly walks towards me, his eyes trapping me to my seat.

"I need you…

But most of all…

I need your soulfinder."


	3. Chapter 3 Emerald

_**Author's**_** Note:**** Will's POV will be soon, so, y'know, excitement!****  
**

**Thanks for all of the reviews and if you're new don't forget to review!  
**

**Hope you enjoy!  
**

_**Emerald**_

I wonder how Mom felt. When they killed her was she scared? Terrified? Did she cry? Or did she pray and wish and scream for her soulfinder? After all, it was his fault she was in that mess.

Robert Savage was a man of mystery. A man of darkness and one of the biggest enemies of the Savant Net. He was lethal and dangerous and the biggest asshole on the planet.

But he was Daddy, so I loved him.

He and my mom couldn't have been so different. She was this sweet, little Australian girl and he was a hard-core New Yorker.

My father was definitely leader-of-the-mafia material.

So did Mom scream for him? Did she shriek until her voice was raw? Did she whisper over and over to him? Or was she mute, channeling her inner Savage and not letting the enemies know anything?

Dad didn't scream. He didn't cry or shriek or whisper. He was shot. Gone in one clean sweep. A head shot was what Mom told me.

A head shot.

"Tell me about your father's power." Thomas snaps me out of my reverie and I move my eyes from the wall and look back to him.

We were silent for a long time after he told me he needed me.

_And my soulfinder_.

I decide to tell him, as he probably knows. And if he doesn't it doesn't matter. Dad's dead.

"He could make your inhibitions leave. You'd tell him everything that he wanted to know. Your whole life story if he wanted you to. He could also make you trust him, worship him."

_Die for him._

Thomas nods. "Handy, very, very handy. And your mother?"

"Teleporter. The only one anyone's ever heard of." I remember that. How she would blink a few times like she had something in her eye, then she'd sway on her feet and her eyes would roll into the back of her head. Next thing you knew she was upstairs and throwing downs those socks I needed.

"Amazing." He whispers. "You people are amazing."

I smile dryly. "Why, thank you." I drawl.

"And you? What's your power?"

"Just hope you never find out." My voice rumbles menacingly.

He laughs, a deep, belly laugh and irritation swirls in me, but I squash it down.

"But seriously though, what do you do?"

I look at a wall and ignore him. I think of my soulfinder, the one Thomas needs me for. My soulfinder who has not rescued me. Who has not shown up. Who has not been here.

I've never met him before and already I hate him.

I want to kill him.

Thomas leans forward with a frown. "There seems to be only one way to get your attention, girl. Let's talk about your soulfinder then."

_Don't…_

It swirls within me and I know this will end dreadfully. Don't push it, don't push it, don't push it.

"Any idea who he is?"

I ignore him.

"What he looks like?"

I remain silent.

"Where he's from?"

My head feels light and a thrill runs through me as I know what he's going to say before he even says it, though I don't know how.

"You know Emerald, it would be terrible if we found him and had to hurt him, don't you think?"

And I snap.

Five years of not using my savant ability building up inside me as I snap.

No one will hurt my soulfinder.

No one but me.


	4. Chapter 4 Emerald

_******Author's Note:  
**_**Here's two chapters. The second one is from Will's POV as promised. This is kind of dramatic and a little brutal, but it gets cuter and sweeter I promise. Please review, because those are great for ego-maniacs like me.**

**Hope you enjoy! **

_**Emerald**_

I am on my feet before the guards can even blink. Before Thomas can even take a breath. And it's like everything goes in slow-motion from this point on.

I lower my head as my red hair spills over my shoulders and face like a waterfall creating those red ripples. The guards lift up their weapons and Thomas goes to hide under the table, but none of them know what to do as they have no idea what _I _can do.

I love the mysteriousness of it all.

My arms are flung out to my sides as I tighten them into fists and then, just as quickly, I tug them back in and wrap them around my body as the black, gleaming concrete wall to my right and the one to my left explode inwards. All of the debris flying into the room and swirling around and around and around. The guards are too slow to get cover and large chunks of the walls hit them, flinging them across the room or outside.

I do not fold myself into a ball like Thomas does, as none of the debris touches me. The mind-and-body barrier has wrapped itself around me like a cocoon as pieces of the debris bounce harmlessly off of it.

I gaze at Thomas, shaking and cowering under the table. As silence settles around us and I hear the faint sounds of footsteps and alarms from the door behind me (as the wall behind me and in front – and, surprisingly the roof – are all still intact) all I can do is stare at him. He opens his eyes and stares at me, eyes terrified and mixed with confusion.

"B-but… h-h-how?" He stutters out, and I know what he's thinking. All savant abilities aren't supposed to work in this place; it's how none of us have escaped.

All I do is smile from underneath the veil of my hair.

"You were right, Thomas." All I can see is him. All I can focus on is this man who has threatened my soulfinder. My destiny. The boy who I have dreamed about for years and years and years. I have tunnel vision, because I can see nothing but this abomination of a human being who tortures and experiments on savants for…

For what?

I have no idea.

Five years and I am clueless.

"Having two very powerful parents does make me powerful." I finish my sentence, wondering when I became so dramatic. But the rage that is building up inside of me is like nothing I've ever experienced before. All I want to do is kill him. I want to scream and shout and rip this man apart. I want his blood on my hands.

I want to prove I am a true Savage.

"Please." His eyes shine with unshed tears and I realise how weak he is. He is begging me for mercy.

But at the age of fifteen, as they dragged me from my mom's body I screamed for mercy too.

I was locked-up for five years.

"Y-y-you…" I am so angry. I am panting and my hands are shaking and a cold sweat has broken out, covering my whole body. My whole body feels like it's vibrating with anger. So, so much anger.

"D-do not…" I swallow hard as my shoulder shake and my face becomes so hot with anger that I'd swear it was on fire.

I hear nothing but my voice and I see nothing but him. He may not be the leader, or the head of this horrendous "clinic", but he has threatened my soulfinder. He knows things about my family and my other self.

The guards are dead, I know that, and so, I can only assume, he is the only one to know how I acted. Who my other self was.

Other Me.

No one can know about Other Me.

This is why I'll have to kill him.

"Threaten my soulfinder." My limbs are shaking as anger pulses through me. Fast and strong like the blood in my veins. My anger and insanity has tainted my blood. Diluted it.

All I see and hear is him as I raise my right hand and I realise its stopped shaking. My hair is a protective curtain. My hand is a weapon. My ability is the ammunition.

And I'm the killer.

He squeezes his eyes shut as the slow-motion effect comes back and I squeeze my hand into a fist, flexing my re-awakening ability. I am going to kill this man. He's all I see. All I see.

"Get down AND PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" The harsh shout comes from so many sides, so many voices, so many people. But I do not move, as this must be my imagination. Or his colleagues are here and they'll kill me.

But I'll kill Thomas first.

But I can't because my arms are wrenched back. My body is pulled closer to the person who has taken me and I try to struggle free. I writhe.

Realisation dawns on me.

People in black swarm in, some holding guns. They kick away the debris and sound comes back as I hear all of the voices.

_NO!_

They can't!

I start screaming and shrieking and writhing in this mans arms as they go over to Thomas, bending to see if he's okay.

"_NO_!" My voice sounds like a lion's. A cat's. An animal's. I kick and punch but he won't free me. I search for my powers, my abilities, even telekinesis would do, but it's like they're on lock-down. Everything is gone and I am alone.

Normal.

My face is red and my voice is cracking and raw, but I still scream. I still shout. I still try to kill Thomas.

But I don't need to, because as the men in black help him up, he takes out a pistol from the waistband of his jeans and he aims it at me. A head shot.

A head shot.

I scream vicious things at him and lash out at the man holding me as Thomas clicks the safety off on his gun.

And then everything goes black.


	5. Chapter 5 Will

_**Will**_

It's Uriel, Victor, Dad and me. We're the only ones from my family on this mission. And this mission is some pretty heavy shit. At least a hundred savants are locked-up in this place.

I gaze up at the peeling paint of this fake building. It's a crazy house, apparently. Well, at least, that's what it's _supposed_ to be. But looks can be misleading. Take me for example. I'm so laid-back I'm practically horizontal, well, that's what my college friends think. And yet here I am, loaded with a gun, wearing a bullet-proof vest and staring at, basically, a savant prison.

What I wouldn't do to be at home watching _Doctor Who_ with Yves and Phee. Even though I hate being around those two love-birds I do have a huge crush on Amy Pond.

I have a thing for red-heads.

And hot accents.

"You ready, son?" Dad claps me on the back. I look to him and nod.

"Yeah." I concentrate on my savant ability, detecting danger or threats.

It's like a bell. It's in the back of your head and you can never get rid of it. It's there, when there's a threat around, constantly ringing and ringing and ringing. It never stops, not until the threat is eliminated.

It drives me crazy, which is why I like to eliminate the threat pretty darn fast.

Usually we wait for a signal from the leader. As we're all very active members of the Savant Net some of us go under different names. The leader for this mission is Carrot. A bulky dude with a skill for telekinesis and a New Jersey accent.

I doubt "Carrot" is his real name. Unless his parents were rabbits.

But with the size of his teeth, I mean, anything is possible…

I'm such a jack-ass.

We all stand tall and look to Carrot as he surveys the place, but we don't have time to think. A huge explosion in the building has us all dropping into a crouch. We hear screams from men and the sound of bodies hitting the ground. Hard.

We stay silent and still for a minute and then we all look up. A small part of an ad-joining section to the building has lost two of its four walls. I move my gaze from the building to Carrot.

He counts down from twenty and then gives us the signal.

We sprint. All going to the building from different angles and entries. Most of us just using the huge holes in the walls.

"Get down AND PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" We all scream in unison at the culprit, but as we enter, I'm confused.

A man going by "Glover" grabs a sickeningly thin girl and pulls her to his chest.

She freaks out.

I have never, in all of my life, seen anyone so angry. Her face is as red as her hair and her screams and shouts feel as if they can shake the earth. She thrashes around and her whole body is shaking. Practically convulsing and I'm terrified that this raggedy girl is having a seizure.

Her eyes are like pure green fire and they light up her face. Her legs and arms are thrashing wildly like she's drowning and I stop.

I hate to say it, but I freeze.

The terrible things that have been done to this girl are evident by her appearance, but I can't focus on that as shouts go up from my left. I spin around to see another man, in his early forties, holding up a gun.

He aims it at the sick girl.

But her screaming is so loud and distracting that Victor sends out a message to Glover to use his ability.

_Put her out, Glover. Put her out._

The girl's eyes get bigger and rounder and, impossibly, greener, until she slumps in Glover's arms.

When I look back to the man I see his eyes glint and he sneers as he steadies his hands. We all lift up our guns as Dad tries to reason with him.

"Put the gun down!" He says in a soft yet commanding voice. "We just want to talk."

"I'm not talking to you freaks!" He screams and I see his finger move as he goes to fire the bullet at the girl.

My dad isn't shooting.

Neither is Vick.

Or Uri.

Or Carrot.

They don't know what to do.

I have a millisecond to decide before I make the choice for them.

I squeeze the trigger of my gun and a shot rings out.

Blood blossoms from his head and it is cracked open. I squeeze my eyes to stop from witnessing anymore as I get the kick-back from the gun in my shoulders. I hear a gun clatter to the ground along with the sound of a body.

Then some gurgling.

Then silence.


	6. Chapter 6 Will

_**Will**_

When I open my eyes I see his body. Lying there.

Dead.

"What have you done?!" Demands John, another member of our team. I look toward him with lost eyes as the gun falls from my hands and clatters to the ground.

My hands start shaking. "I-I don't know."

"We could've gotten information from him!"

"Shut up!" Victor growls at him, defending me. But all I can do is look at John in horror.

I just murdered a man and all he can think about is _information_?! What if that man had a family? A wife and kids who were waiting for him to come home? An old mother who needed help and he was her carer? Friends and colleagues who would miss him?

As if sensing where my thoughts are going Dad puts a comforting hand on my shoulder and shakes his head.

"You did what you had to do." He says with a sad tone. I swallow hard at the look of pain on his face.

"Ben's right." Carrot says, using Dad's fake name. "It was either him or the girl, and the girl is far more useful."

At that, we all turn to look at the girl lying limply in Glover's arms. We don't have long to stare at her form, as we hear shouts and footsteps echoing from other parts of the building, along with alarms.

_Back to the vehicles. Glover, take her with you and Ben, we'll meet you at the Safe House. Make sure to take a long route, in case we're followed,_ comes Carrot's telepathic voice.

I nod numbly and stumble after my family as we head to the cars.

Victor and Dad are in the front while Uriel, Glover and I are in the back, me sandwiched behind Dad, the driver, as Glover is in the middle. He lays the girl across our laps as Uriel shrugs out of his light jacket and wraps it around her scarily thin form. Her hospital gown tied at the back but hung off of her. Even though it's summer and very warm, even as late as it is now, with darkness surrounding us, we cover the girl. As her pale back is exposed I catch a glimpse of her back.

I can see every little detail of her spine.

I shiver, from her body or from the numb sensation flowing over me, I don't know, all I know is that I like the numb. Because when it leaves I know I'll freak out.

I've killed a person.

Killed 'em dead.

I take a deep breath as we speed off, hurtling towards darkness. Victor and Uriel are talking, while Dad and Glover are swapping old Net stories, but I stare out the window and try not to realise the impact my actions will have on somebody's life.

Instead, I stare at the girl. Her hair is splayed across my lap, along with her face. Her lips are pale and cracked and her face is washed of all colours except white. Its so white I can see all of the veins. Her eyelids are papery looking and spider web veins run through them, making them look a dark shade of purple. Her cheeks aren't sunken looking – it's obvious she was fed – but she does look malnourished. Probably from lack of sleep and sun.

Then an awful thought hits me.

How long must that girl have been there for her to look so bad?

I shake my head, not wanting to know and I look back out the window.

Soon we are pulling up to an old, abandoned shack, and I see the other car there. We all get out, leaving the girl in the car as we do so, and I try to control my shaking hands and scattering thoughts as I join the group of fourteen, savant men. I keep my shields up.

My dad looks to Carrot with folded arms.

"Are you going to tell us why we took her and left the others?" I realise my dad is angry. Angry and hurt and feeling awful for leaving the others behind. Looking around our little troop I see the same on everyone else's faces. I feel bad that it never even entered my mind that we'd left them.

Let them go unsaved.

"There's good reason, Ben. And we'll get the others soon." My dad looks upset, but nods for Carrot to continue.

"That is Emerald Savage. A nineteen year old girl from Melbourne, Australia originally. She was kidnapped from her home five years ago."

Carrot waits for that to sink in before he delivers another blow.

"Her mother was killed when she was kidnapped. Her kidnappers killed her, didn't need her anymore."

I swallow at the thought of having my mother taken from me. Along with my freedom.

"Did you say Savage?" Victor back tracks and Carrot nods with a small, sad smile.

"Sound familiar?"

"As in, Robert Savage? Is she a relative?" Uriel wonders and Carrot smirks at the troop.

"Worse than that boys, she's his daughter."

We all swear aloud, and Carrot laughs.

"And we just let her escape? Just like that?" Glover asks angrily. "We've aided a crazy person! A bad guy!"

At that, Carrot sobers.

He shakes his head. "While she may be crazy, boys, she's not a bad guy. You're forgetting that it was her _father_ that was the evil savant. Not the daughter."

"The apple never falls far from the tree." John mutters.

"In this case, we can only hope that this apple fell from the tree and rolled down a couple of hills." Carrot crosses his arms over his chest and looks at Dad. They speak via telepathy for a minute or two as Dad is filled in more than the rest of us.

Then Dad steps back. "You've got to be kidding, Carrot."

Carrot shakes his head. "I'm dead serious, Ben. Higher people have ordered it. They need _you_ to do this. Your whole family, actually." Carrot shrugs. "I have no idea what's so special 'bout you and these three," He motions to my brothers and I, as he thinks we're the only ones in our family.

He hasn't met the other four.

Well… eight. If I'm including Sky, Phee, Crystal and Diamond.

Which, when it comes to my brothers, I always am.

Over time my joy for them all has slowly turned to bitterness, but I squash it down, and wonder what's happening between Dad and Carrot.

"What's up?" I ask and Dad looks to me.

"He wants us to keep her. To look after her."

"More than that." Carrot looks to me. "I want you to cure her."

"Of what?"

Carrot looks to us. "Insanity."

"You can't _cure_ somebody of insanity." Uriel supplies with narrowed eyes. "It's a condition, not a disease."

"_I _know that. I'm just saying what I was told." Carrot then looks to his watch.

"We should go guys. We've had a good night, a death, but it was necessary for our ultimate goal." He walks over and claps me on the back and looks me in the eyes. "Don't forget it, son."

I nod mutely as everyone heads off to their cars and I trudge behind my family. Glover comes over and hands the girl – Emerald Savage – to my dad, and then he skulks off and drives off without another word.

Victor props her up in the middle seat as we slide into the back, and Dad and Uriel get into the car. Silence, heavy and thick, envelopes us all, with the words unsaid about the murder I committed less than an hour ago. With a three hour drive ahead of us - and a crazy girl who may or may not wake up half way through – I lean my head against the glass and blow out a breath.

"You can say it guys. I'm a murderer. A psycho."

"What are you talking about, Will?" Uriel glances back at me, his eyes sympathetic. "You're not a murderer. You did what you had to do, anyone would've. I would've."

I shake my head. "But you stopped. All of you. You _hesitated_."

They all start to shift uncomfortably and I realise they're ashamed. Ashamed of hesitating and not killing that man.

_God, I didn't even know his name._

"We hesitated because we were thinking, son. You followed your gut and made the right decision. Don't hold yourself responsible. Don't."

I nod, but I know I'll be responsible. I _am _responsible. I shot that man.

I shot him.


	7. Chapter 7 Emerald

_**Authors**** Note:****  
**_

**Casually just finished Seeking Crystal...**

**There will be some spoilers about that book in this fanfic, but nothing that isn't on the book's blurb or that wasn't in any reviews I read, but in about two weeks or so I'll start writing a bit more literately, but I'll warn you, so it's all good.  
**

**Oh, and it was pretty damn good. Not amazing, but pretty gosh damn good. I liked Crystal, but not her family and sometimes I kind of felt it was a tiny bit like fanfiction. And I didn't really like how Phee and Sky were portrayed.  
**

**But don't listen to me, I'm hard to please.  
**

**Oh, and Xav was just...  
**

**There are no words.  
**

**Enjoy!  
**

_**Emerald**_

Hands were clamped over my ears and my eyes as I struggled.

Mom was there.

I needed to see. I needed to hear. WHAT WERE THEY DOING TO HER?!

"Mom! I screamed. "Mom!"

But everything was muted as I struggled and writhed. I could hear far away voices and sounds, but nothing solid as I was dragged away.

"MOM!" I had lost Dad, I couldn't lose her too.

_MOM! For godsakes teleport! Mom, teleport!_

Sobs wracked my body as another pair of hands grabbed my body and I was hauled away from my home. My mother.

I went into myself. Trying to use my power, but it wasn't working. Something was interfering with it. I started wriggling and when that didn't work, I started begging.

"Please." I said as cloth replaced the hands around my eyes and my hands were bound with something that felt like plastic.

"_Please_. I'm only fifteen. Let me go. _Please_." My voice was hoarse and breaking and sobs were making my whole body convulse as I thought of what may be happening to my mom.

_BANG!_

A shot.

A gunshot.

My voice sounded wild as a scream ripped from my throat. It felt like it was ripping my body in half. It felt as if it was coming from somewhere deep and dark. Like something was being let out from within me.

"_MOM!"_

Any savant within a twenty mile radius would hear my telepathy, and all my neighbours would hear my voice, and yet no one answered.

Not a savant.

Not a neighbour.

Not Mom.

"_Mom_!"

Hands were on my shoulders and I started screaming and flailing around. My voice raw from whatever drugs these creepy bastards had used on me to get me back into solitary confinement.

The creepy, perverted, little assholes.

My eyes flew open and were met with the deep set eyes of a dark skinned, dark haired man.

But they were not the eyes of Thomas.

"Shh, Emerald. Calm down." His voice was a deep, soothing rumble. But his eyes held a spark of wariness.

"Who are you?" We were both surprised at my voice. It was strong and strangely detached from the screaming I was doing a moment ago.

Then the dream came back. Rolling in wave after wave of horror.

_Oh God._

"I'm guessing Sleeping Beauty is awake." A tall, brown haired boy comes in. All long legs and broad chest. He flicks the light switch on and gives the old man sitting on my bed – well, the bed I'm in – a weird look.

"Interrogating the princess in bed _and_ in the dark? Wow Dad. Perv much?"

The man sighs with irritation. "Emerald, meet my third youngest-

"-or fifth oldest-"

"-son, Xavier."

The boy – who I now realise is ridiculously good looking – grins.

"You can call me Xav. Or Xavier, if I'm _truly_ pissing you off. But only my mom and Crystal call me that when I'm being a douche."

His father nods and then looks back to me with a kind smile, but it doesn't really reach his eyes.

"And I'm Saul. Saul Benedict."

_Benedict…_

Why does that name feel like a hot, iron rod up the ass?

I don't say anything.

"Okay…" Xav says, filling the awkward silence. He shoos his father away and sits on the edge of the bed. I scoot away from him.

"Don't worry darlin'." He drawls with an easy grin. "I'm not trying to make a move on you. My six foot girlfriend would kill me. And I'm not here to hurt ya, only to heal." He gives me another panty-dropping smile and then he puts his hand on mine.

Immediately, I whip it away from him and draw my hand back.

I take a deep breath, remembering all the lessons from Dad.

And then I punch Xav Benedict in the jaw.


	8. Chapter 8 Emerald

_**Authors Note:  
**_

_****_**Two chapters in one day? You lucky beasts, you!**

**Also, if you've read Seeking Crystal yet, tell me!  
**

**Hope you enjoy!  
**

_**Emerald**_

A tall, curly haired girl bursts into the room immediately, with wild eyes and a pale face. When she sees Xav, slack-jawed and cradling his face, and me, flexing out my hand, she straightens and rolls her eyes.

She glares at Xav.

"I thought you'd been shot." She growls. "With that telepathic scream I thought I'd burst into a room with bullets flying."

He looks to the weird looking and sounding girl. "This crazy girl just punched me in the face!"

She rolls her eyes again and crosses her arms over her chest. "Believe me, babe. It was long overdue."

Xav looks back to me with mock pleading eyes.

"See? You see what I have to put up with?" He tells me.

I frown and look to his father.

Saul shrugs.

The girl stalks over to me – but I think, with those long legs, every movement looks like a stalk – and puts her hand out. She smiles, her sharp features softening.

"I'm Crystal." Her accent is weird, and I can't place it right away.

I shake her hand, but I don't reply.

"Shy?" She asks me.

"Maybe her throat is sore from all the screaming." Xav says dryly as he stands up and rubs his jaw.

My eyes flick to him and I glare. He flinches and then blinks. His eyes narrow, all trace of his good humour gone, and he stares intently at me. I feel his presence in my mind, but my shields are too strong to let him in. My dad taught me how to make my shields so strong not even he himself could get into my head.

Oh, the lessons a villain can teach his daughter.

Crystal looks at me with a slight frown.

"You're almost twenty, right?"

I nod.

"Are you from Amsterdam?"

I shake my head.

She "hmphs" but then shakes her head and grabs hold of Xav.

"Lucky. You don't have to suffer with having this creep as a brother-in-law then." She motions to Xav.

_What?_

Xav grins and looks back at her. "Aw, you say that, but you really do love me, Cupcake."

"Alright, kids." Saul says before I get out of my bed and have to strangle them both. "I have a situation to sort out and I'd like you to leave. That's if she's medically okay, is she, son?"

Xav stares at me for a moment and then his dark brows pull together.

_He really is gosh darn good-looking. _I think.

"I don't know."

The people in the room pause. As if this is weird, unheard of news.

"But I doubt she'll let me touch her again, so I'll have to get Sleeping Beauty with a surprise attack." He winks at me and Crystal purses her lips.

"Come on, Xav." As if sensing her jealousy, he leaves without another sarcastic comment. The door shuts and Saul brings a wooden chair up to sit beside me. He surveys me, sitting in the bed as I am.

"Sorry about them. Soulfinders. They've only had since Christmas to get used to the idea, so we're all giving them the benefit of the doubt."

Soulfinders.

The pang of want is so sharp and painful it brings tears to my eyes, but I blink them back.

Saul sees this and blinks. "Do you want to have a shower?"

Is he implying I smell?

Yup.

I nod and he helps me out of bed. My legs are shaky and my vision swims. I have no idea why I'm here. But I want a shower. A _proper_ one.

Saul leads me down a hallway and into a large en-suite room with a huge, king bed. He leads me past the happy family photos and clothes. I can only assume that this is his room. His and his wife's from what I'm seeing.

He opens the en-suite door.

"There's towels, a dressing gown, soap and you can use my wife's shampoo. I'll wait out here for you." He backs away. "Yell if you need anything.

I hurry and shut the door. I look around the place with large eyes. I quickly by-pass the mirror – not wanting to see me reflection – and I strip off my hospital gown. I hop into the shower and turn the hot water on. It's too hot, but I like it. Like it's scalding the dirt off of me. I survey my body. It's so thin, it's practically non-existent. My body is also covered in deep, purple bruises. After applying some pressure on a few I realise they don't really hurt, but they look angry and big.

I also notice that I have a huge problem with my female duties. Seriously, my legs look like a man's. After grabbing a random razor – who cares who owns it? – I get to work. Shaving… well… _everywhere_.

After my hair has been treated enough and I smell like some sort of perky flower, I step out of the shower on shaky legs and wrap myself in a soft towel. After tying my hair up in a towel – yep, not even a savant prison can make me forget how to do that – I wipe the condensation off the mirror and stare at myself for the first time in five years.

All traces of the baby fat that I used to wish would leave my face, are gone. My face is full of angular cheekbones and a dainty nose. My eyes are like saucers, big and round and green, a stark contrast to my translucently pale face. My skin is flawless. Not that I'd call my freckles flaws, but they've disappeared. And I can't believe it.

Where've they gone?

My lips are pouty and cracked and I'd kill for some chap stick. I bite my lower lip and unwind the towel from around my hair. The red ripples crash down my head in dark, red tangles. My hair is so long it goes to my hips and I make a split second decision. I grab a pair off scissors from the cabinet beside the mirror and I start hacking at my hair. Making clean even cuts. My hair goes way past my shoulders, still long, but not ridiculously so. I grab the chopped off bits and flush them down the toilet, hoping Saul doesn't think I'm about to start self-harming or something.

Really, I have enough problems to deal with than _that_.

I take a deep breath and wrap myself up in a small, white dressing gown. It's tiny, only reaching mid-thigh. It must be the wife's.

I brace myself for Saul as I leave the bathroom, towel-drying my hair. I throw the towel at him when I'm out and I take a stoic pose.

He catches the towel and purses his lips. "Nice shower?"

I nod.

"Want to meet the rest of the family?"

_Rest of the family?_

Would they all be as bad as Xav?

I shake my head.

"Want to go to bed?"

"Are you from the Savant Net?" I shock myself by speaking.

He hesitates, but then nods. "Yes, why?"

I shake my head again and the slow motion thing happens again. I follow him back to the room, the walk is a blur. I go through the door and he says something, but I ignore him. Getting into the soft, comfortable bed with a borrowed dressing gown and soaking hair, but I don't care.

Eventually, Saul leaves and flicks off the light and I curl up into a ball. And all I can think is:

He works for the Savant Net.

The people who murdered my father.


	9. Chapter 9 Emerald

_**Author's**_** Note:****  
****Hey guys! Please, please, please make sure to comment loads and loads and follow and favourite and all that. Also, I got a new laptop, which is why I haven't updated in a bit, so I'm trying to get use to it, so sorry. Anyway, I have plans that after this fanfic I'm going to do one for Uriel and his soulfinder - I have the whole concept planned out - and then after him it's Victor. I'm doing Victor last because I need to.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy! :)  
**

_**Emerald**_

The minute I wake up, I know something is wrong. The floor I'm on is hard, not soft and squishy like my padded cell. And I'm on carpet. CARPET! My eyes shoot open and I jump to my feet, only to stumble and fall backwards because of a head rush. Except, instead of landing hard and on my ass on the carpet, I land on a bed.

I look around the dark room and, suddenly, I remember.

I was saved.

Saved by the Savant Net.

Yippdy frickin' doo.

I'm still dressed in Mrs. Benedict's dressing gown and because I went to sleep with wet hair my hair is all curly and knotty. I wonder why I slept on the ground, but then I remember that I wasn't used to the bed. My spine will need some training if I'm going to be able to sleep on a bed.

I look around the room. There are four light blue walls and when I flick the lights on I see baseball cards pinned to the walls along with photos of – what I can only assume – is the Benedict family. Most of the pictures center around one guy. In every photo he's either pulling a funny face or grinning like a mad man. He's surrounded by lots of guys and girls, as most photos seem to be of parties. I frown as I take in the boy. He's got a broad chest and shoulders, built like a rugby player. In one close-up of the boy I get to see his face properly.

Strong and chiseled jaw-line. Dark, tanned skin, with dark brows and a strong nose. Ink black, shaggy hair and a dimple in his chin when he smiles. His eyes are a deep, deep shade of blue.

I blink, waking up from my reverie and I look around the rest of the room. On a desk there are big, thick books about criminology and behavioral analysis with the name tag "Will Benedict" written in messy, loopy handwriting.

I frown.

_I hope he's nothing like Xav. _I think absentmindedly.

I wander away from the pictures of the good-looking, happy boy and away from his do-gooder books and sit back on the bed. I fiddle with a soft, white belt from my dressing gown.

I sigh as I look around the room.

How did I get here?

Memories of that day when I was taken rush in, horrible and unwelcome memories, flooding into my mind. I gasp as the breath is literally knocked out of me, and I blink back the tears.

_I can't deal with this, not now._

I need to be strong. I need to be brave.

I need to be a Savage.

With that thought in mind I stand up, straighten the horrendously and ridiculously short dressing gown and I take a deep breath.

Once it's released I open the bathroom door and grab a toothbrush. I don't know – or care – who owns it. I put a huge heap of toothpaste on it and give my mouth a thorough and good scrub for several minutes until my teeth ache and my gums are bleeding. But I haven't brushed my teeth in five years, and they are yellow and in ridiculous shape. Once I gargle some mouthwash – okay, about three pints of it – I rinse my mouth out and inspect my teeth. They're only a little yellow, which is good, I scrubbed off most of the plaque and grime.

_I'm going to need to drink a lot of milk to strengthen these babies up._

Next is my face. It's greasy since my shower last night and some spots are threatening to pop up. I've had bad acne for a while, but it's seemed to have cleared up in the last week or so. I predict it'll be back in a week or so, though. I grab some gloppy and sticky face scrub that I scrub and scrub and scrub into my face until I feel like I've scrubbed my skin off. Once that's rinsed off I put on some of Mrs. Benedict's facial creams. Her purifiers, her toners, her moisturiser. I don't really care that I'm using someone elses things. I need them, she's got them, so...

Once my face has been cleaned I grab her hair brush and yank it through my unruly and newly shortened hair. I brush and yank all the knots out of my hair until it's straight again. I run a hand through it and look at myself in the mirror.

I'm still a scary pale and sickeningly thin, but at least my hair is knot-free. I put the brush down, flash myself a newly white smile and head out of the bathroom. I bite my lip as I survey the room and I decide to make the bed. Best to not bite the hand that feeds you.

I square my shoulders and head out the bedroom door, lightly padding down the hall. The hallway has dark brown walls and wooden floors, and I glance out a large, bay window on the landing just at the stairs. I stand, shock-still, completely and stupidly enraptured.

It's the sun. It's. The. Sun. It's orange glow is high enough to make me expect it's a little after noon. It's so bright and such a deep yellowy orange. And _oh!_ I haven't seen it in so long. So, so, so long. I stand in it's light, the warmth spilling all around me, and I wonder if it's summer like I think it is. There's no snow, so it's not winter, and it looks bright enough to be summer, but I don't know where I am.

Though I know I am no longer in Australia.

The thought makes me home sick for the white sandy beaches and the open sea that I want back. I used to go surfing all the time. Will I ever surf again? Can I even remember _how_ to?

I shake myself out of my depressing thoughts and give one last look at the sun. Will I ever see it again? Will I be kidnapped again and taken away?

I turn around and walk down the stairs. I pass family photo after family photo and – if my calculations are correct – there are seven boys in this family. And in the newer photos there seems to be four girls as well. All looking very different and each hanging on the arm of one of the – I can only assume – sons.

_Soulfinders_. I think bitterly.

I'm wondering where the hell this incredibly large family is when I reach the bottom of the stairs. I turn a corner and bump into someone. I stumble back and blink, looking down and into the eyes of a petite, blonde haired, blue eyed girl.

She shakes her head and blinks. Then she looks at me and grins. Her whole face lighting up.

"You must be Emerald." She says, holding out a hand. Her accent is lilting and English. Gingerly I shake her hand, feeling how small and delicate her little palm is.

_Who is this kid?_

Then the answer comes.

_One of the sons' soulfinders._

I can't help but feel jealous and completely envious of this small, pretty girl with her delicate face and body and her old-style beauty - reminding me of Marilyn Monroe, except with less sex appeal – and soulfinder. What did she do to deserve him? What could she have possibly done?

She slips her hand out of mine, a look of unease creasing her brow. My mind fuzzes with the tell-tale sign of someone using telepathy and, within seconds, a gigantic boy walks into the hallway. He's like a sky-scraper, easily passing six foot and he has that face that teachers want to hurt and makes fathers want to lock their daughters away from this bad boy.

Codeword: Hot.

He sees me and a scowl settles across his face. His voice is deep and gruff when he speaks.

"Sky baby, get behind me." The blonde girl – Sky – glares at him, but does what she's told. My mind goes fuzzy again and I know they're talking about me via telepathy.

In the next second the new boy is joined by two other very large men. One with grey eyes and a black ponytail, the other with hazel eyes and a clean cut hair cut, his black hair trimmed and neat.

Both look wary of me.

I frown and cross my arms over my chest.

"Where's Saul?" I ask, my voice cold and level. I settle my eyes on the ponytail dude, sensing he might be the leader. Well, I look between him and the other guy, as the one with hazel eyes seems a little older.

"I'm here, Emerald." I spin around and see Saul walking through the other doorway, his hands up in a placating gesture, as if I'll run or attack. A small woman bustles behind him, a thoughtful expression on her warm face. Two more boys – one that looks older than all the rest and another boy with glasses – walk in, two girls following them. Next in comes Xav and Crystal. Xav flashes me a grin and winks, while Crystal just rolls her eyes.

I realise I'm surrounded by the whole Benedict family. But when I count the boys, I only count six. I frown as I realise the boy whose bed I'm in is not here.

I shrug.

Doesn't matter to me.

"Why am I here?!" I demand. Better start with the big questions first.

"We've been assigned to look after you." Saul replies calmly.

"Look after me? I'm nineteen. I can look after myself, thanks." I sound so strange surrounded by all these Americans and that English girl. My letters sounding like "a"'s when they're supposed to be "o"'s.

"You've been gone along time, Emerald, a lot's changed."

I glare at him, jaw clenched as well as my fists. I _know_ that. I know I've been gone a long time. Does this man think I'm stupid?

"I don't want to be looked after." I bite out.

"Yeah, well we don't really wanna look after you either." I spin around to see the tall boy with Sky behind him glare at me.

If looks could kill I'd be six feet under.

"Zed." Saul growls, and the boy – Zed – shuts up.

I turn back around to Saul.

"See? You don't want me here and I don't want to be here. So if you'd just let me-"

"Where would you go?" He interrupts me and I purse my lips to stop myself from cursing at him.

"I'll go to my friend's hous-"

"Your old friends who were told you were murdered along with your mother? Your old friends who are away at college or traveling the world?"

I inhale sharply.

They were told I was murdered?

"_Along with your mother." _What he just said echoes around my head.

My mother was murdered.

I move forward, to slap him or punch him or kill him, I don't know. But I don't get any further as I hear a new voice speak from the crowd.

"Oh. She's awake."

It's a new voice.

The last Benedict.

Will.


	10. Chapter 10 Will

_**Will**_

Okay, I know it sounds mean, but this girl looks absolutely insane.

Batshit crazy, as my little brother Xav would say.

She spins around and looks at me when I speak. Her eyes are huge and her pupils are dilated, practically taking up all of the green. Her face is as white as paper, practically translucent, and her body is terrifyingly thin. She's tall and willowy, about 5.9 or 10. But every bone in her body seems to be jutting out at odd and painful angles. I know she wasn't starved – or at least, I'm guessing – but she is obviously, severely malnourished. So while my whole family glares at her, I motion her into the kitchen.

"C'mon, you're probably hungry." Really, I'm just thankful she's awake so my family will stop worrying about me. Since we got back last night everybody has been telling me how it wasn't my fault, how I had to do it, to save the girl.

So, now that said girl is standing in front of me, I better make sure she's not going to die as well.

She freezes. I sigh and then walk over to her. Before I even think about the mental strain I might be putting her under, or how scared she might be, I take her hand and lead her away from the hall and into the large kitchen. My family stares at me as if I'm Judas, but I barely spare them a glance as I pull a seat out for her and sit her down.

She bows her head, her hair falling like a curtain around her, as if it protects her from the evils of the savant world. But, somehow, I know she's watching me.

It's unnerving.

I break out into an easy smile, folding my arms across my chest.

"I'm Will Benedict. Fourth oldest boy and, of course, the best looking." I hear an indignant snort from Xav behind me. He breezes in, with Crystal in tow, and they both hop up on to the counter, staring down at us.

"So... Emerald, right?" Xav asks.

She doesn't reply.

He nods for some reason. "Yes, yes... I totally agree. Anyway, so back to the main subject, what was that mental institute like?" He raises an eyebrow.

Crystal glares at him. "Xavier!" She hisses. He looks toher.

"Was that insensitive?"

Crystal just rolls her eyes. "Sorry, Emerald, but Xav's a tool, so, y'know, get used to it." Crystal shrugs.

I can't see, but I swear, I know that she's narrowing her eyes. "Why do I need to get used to it?"

Jesus, she could form glaciers with that voice.

And then my Dad appears.

"You have to stay here, Emerald. We're here to help you anyway. To keep you safe."

"From what?"

"The people who took you, obviously." Zed swaggers in and rolls his eyes. Sky punches him in the arm.

I can imagine that Emerald is glaring at my baby brother.

I roll my eyes at all of them and look down at Emerald.

"You hungry?"

She nods.

"You eat meat?"

She nods.

"You allergic to anything?"

"Apart from idiots like your brothers," She nods at Zed and Xav. "No."

I grin at her. "I'll make you the best and biggest breakfast you've had in a long time."

And since I'm the only one close enough to hear, I hear her whisper:

"That wouldn't be hard."

And I realise, I killed a man so that this girl wouldn't die.

I need to make sure they don't get hold of her again.


	11. Chapter 11 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

**I give thee... chapter 11!**

**This is for .dee (or something along those line, you know who you are). Apparently they were having a rough day and my last chapter made it better. Well... this chapter is dedicated to you. Hope this makes you happy as well.  
**

**Hope you enjoy!  
**

_**Emerald**_

While the other Benendicts drift off to do their own things. To do the laundry, go to work, make passionate love to their soulfinders...

Okay, maybe not the last thing, but, seriously, if I had a soulfinder...

Will stays with me. Talking to me and laughing while I'm trying to eat. The boy – or man, but with that smile, he just looks so young – is extremely good-looking. But I have not eaten in so long, so I'm ravenous.

I attack the scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, hash browns and toast with a vengeance, barely pausing to breathe. Will barely bats an eyelid, carrying on about how their family owns the ski lifts or whatever, and how they all have to work there in the winter. But now that it's summer, they all do their own things. Unfortunately, because of me, they've all been called back from whatever they were doing to come home and help me out.

I want to scream that I don't need their help.

That I'm fine.

But maybe they can help Other Me.

Will is really starting to irritate me. He keeps talking and talking and talking. And laughing as well.

Doesn't he realise that there are people dying all the time?

How can he laugh like that?

How?

I want to punch him in the face. And his family seems to be hovering around me. I can feel them, in my head, trying to get in, but my shields are so strong I don't think even I could take them down if I even wanted to.

Which I don't.

I push my plate away, my appetite sated, and I look at my attire.

Still in the dressing gown.

Will stops mid-sentence and looks me up and down too. I would've blushed, if I was a normal girl. But I'm not a normal girl, so I don't blush, because I am so skinny nobody could find me attractive.

As if he can read my mind, he goes to the cupboard and comes back with a full packet of chocolate cookies. About thirty of them. He hands them to me as I get the tingly feeling that means he's using telepathy.

"Here, I know you probably don't want to hear this, but you need to gain some weight." I take the cookies and cram them down my them. About five minutes later, they're gone.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I haven't had chocolate in _so long_!

A minute later Mrs. Benedict bustles into the room, carrying a pair of denim shorts and a black T-shirt. She smiles warmly as she hands them to me.

"Hi dear, my name's Karla." She grins. "Welcome to the Benedict family." She takes me by the arm and waves Will away, with a little explanation of "girl things".

She leads me upstairs and into her room, where she turns around as I get dressed.

"We'll have to bring you out and buy you your own clothes, dear. Get you fitted for a bra and all that, as I'm sure you've grown. The Net gave us money to help you, so don't you worry about a thing. Unfortunately, I'll have to take your measurements, as Saul doesn't really..."

"Trust me?" I offer as I turn around. She turns also and smiles at me.

"Not the best fit, but you still look lovely."

I look down at myself and frown. "Creepy and malnourished" would be what I'd describe myself as at the moment.

At least I'll have fun fattening myself up.

I trudge behind her, my hair covering my face, as we go down the stairs and back into the kitchen. I'm about to sit down, waiting for Will to start his inane chatter, when I stop and see who's actually in the kitchen.

Will's gone.

In his place are Zed and Sky. Sky sitting on the kitchen counter with her arms looped around Zed's neck and her legs wrapped around his waist as he tangles his fingers in her light blonde hair. Next are Xav and Crystal. Both standing tall in the corner as Xav trails a finger around her face as she tries to duck away from him, her face flushed. Then there's two other couples. A dark haired boy with glasses, rubbing the back of a dark haired girl as she sits on his lap, and then an older, taller man, with a petite girl with short dark hair.

My stomach flips and sinks to my toes as I realise the bond between all these people.

They're soulfinders.

I don't think you understand. Nobody can really understand unless they're in a savant's position. Knowing that out there, somewhere, there is a person who is literally the embodiment of perfection for you, it's a killer. I mean, it really is. My soulfinder could be on the other side of the planet, or I could've passed him everyday on my way to school.

And then my heart stops for a second.

What if my soulfinder was in that prison with me? On the other side with the boys. What if, like me, he had spent years and years, slowly losing his mind as fantasy after fantasy of freedom and his soulfinder came to mind.

And I realise, as I watch these people with their soulfinders, that I hate them. How dare they? What makes them more special, more deserving than me to have a soulfinder? What have they done that's better than what I've done?

Any kindness I felt towards Karla evaporates in that moment as I realise, she too, has a soulfinder. She looks up at me and smiles as she motions for me to sit down, in between all these soulfinders.

I stare at her, incredulous.

_Is she an idiot?_

I run.

I know it's cowardly, maybe I should've stayed and hurt them. Showed them that they shouldn't be happy. That there are things going on in the world. Hell, what about all those people I was imprisoned with? What about them?

I turn around and run, going through the hallways and then bursting out into the sun, flinging the door open. I don't pause to gaze lovingly at the sun, instead I just keep running. Down a winding drive and then into a forest. A huge forest with huge green trees and my bare feet pound against the earth, jumping over fallen branches and dodging trees. I slice the bottom of my feet as I sprint over sharp rocks, but I don't care. I need to leave. I need to go. I NEED TO GET AWAY!

It isn't fair. I want to go home. I want to be with my mom and dad and I want to blink and find out that this is a dream. A horrible dream that I thought would never end, but instead I'm in my bed. I'll wake up and realise I have school. I'll get up, put my uniform on and put on some eye-liner and mascara, coating my bronze lashes with black and wondering if Darren Andrews from English likes me back. I'll wonder if I'm sick, or just feeling queasy about seeing him. I'll wonder if I'll be able to go to that dance with Cara and Lisa, or if I'm still grounded for "accidentally" breaking my phone. I'll wake up and realise that I need to decide what to wear for that date Matt asked me on, and that I need to figure out if I like him more than Darren.

But as my breathing becomes ragged after about five minutes of running, and I get a stitch, I realise this isn't a dream. After years and years of being locked away and only having my cell to jog around I am completely out of shape. No longer the fastest girl in my year, or that track star.

But I keep going, afraid that I'll vomit if I stop.

But I don't run for long, as I hit a problem.

Well, not a problem... a person.

And I don't hit it, it hits me.

I have about a second to scream as I am rugby tackled to the forest ground, dirt going into my mouth as my face and body go skidding along. My hands clawing at the dirt.

I have another second to lift my head up as my attacker looks into my face, before I vomit all over him.


	12. Chapter 12 Emerald

_**Author's**_** Note:****  
**

**Okay, so I'm an idiot. I thought I had updated chapter 11 a few days ago, but I didn't... because I'm an idiot. I thought it was up and everything. So there's me thinking it was up and everything and then I realise it wasn't.  
**

***Sigh*  
**

**Anyway, so here's chapter 12 as well. Hope you enjoy!  
**

**Plot twist...Okay... maybe not...**

_**Emerald**_

"Dear God woman, what did you eat?!" The guy screeches as he scrambles away from me. But I stop paying attention as I start retching and then I vomit again and again. I feel cool hands pull my hair away from my face as my whole body shakes from exertion and I'm left panting over a puddle of my own vomit, bent over on my hands and knees.

After, I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and lean back on my haunches. I swallow and almost start gagging again.

_What the hell?_

The realisation that I can't even run anymore without getting violently sick is the last straw. I have to bite my lip – drawing blood – to stop myself from crying. My hands are clenched into dirty claws and I'm furious. At myself, at my body and at those monsters who kidnapped me.

"Are you okay?" I hear the deep, soft voice from behind me. I turn around to see Will on his knees, looking down at me. I'm a tall girl, at least 5.9, but Will is a lot taller than me.

I quickly unhook my hair from my ears and let it go over my face like a veil... at least no dirt or puke got in it. My hair covers my burning face.

"Yes." My voice is hoarse from puking and unshed tears.

He clambers on to his feet and I see that his shirt and pants are covered in my sick.

I want to die.

He helps me up and gives me a self-hating smile. He looks guilty and worried, very worried.

"I-I'm sorry... for being so rough. Did I squeeze you too hard? Was my food bad?"

I realise that he blames himself, he thinks he's the reason I puked, when really, it's because I'm seriously unfit.

But I don't tell him that, instead I say:

"Why are you here?"

"You need to come back."

"No... I don't."

"Of course you do. Don't be stupid."

"Oh, so I'm stupid now, am I?"

"Well, yeah, you are if you're going to risk your life by running away. You have no idea where you are and... and you don't even have any shoes on!"

"I needed to leave!" I shout at him.

"Why?! What is so bad about my family that made you run away?!" He shouts right back.

"You wouldn't understand." I cross my arms over my chest and turn around, like a petulant child.

"Y'know, just because you had it tough doesn't mea-"

"Had it tough?" I shriek, whipping around to glare at him, though he doesn't see it as my hair covers my face.

"Well... yeah, what with being locked up and..."

"You don't know anything!" I hiss at him.

"You aren't the only one, Emerald! Sky had it tough. She was abused at as a kid and was fostered and everything! Phee too! She was practically a hostage just like you were, and she watched her mom die too. And Crystal as well, she saw her dad die."

I swear to God, it's not my fault. It really isn't. But his words, they create something evil in me. I am so angry I am shaking again, just like I was when I was with Thomas. My breath is coming out in pants and everything is red.

_This boy is comparing what I went through to abuse, a girl who didn't want to be somewhere and probably some spoiled brat with Daddy issues?!_

Will has a second to see the drastic change in my attitude before he is sailing through the air. His body connects with a tree and... holds. He's pinned there. All six-foot-four of him hover about five feet above the ground. His eyes are wide as I stalk over to him. I narrow my eyes as I concentrate hard at keeping him pinned there. I feel the tingle at the back of my mind, declaring that he's trying to use telepathy, but my power flings into him, blocking all sorts of contact as I have my hold on him.

"Listen to me, mate." I say, glaring up at him. "I don't give a shit what your little brothers' soulfinders had to deal with and, to be honest, I don't care. I'm not trying to pull any kind of one-up-man-ship crap, but don't you _dare_ try to downplay what I went through." I take two steps back and feel the elastic band in my mind snap back to place as Will is dropped from his pinned position on the tree.

He lands on his feet and stares at me, mouth open.

"Who the hell are you?" He whispers.

And I know, then, that he and his brothers – hell, maybe even his whole family – have heard about my dad, but they don't really know what he did. And I know that if I tell him, all of his good attitude towards me will leave, everything. He won't talk to me, or look at me, and I probably won't be on the receiving end of one of his warm smiles ever again.

I've only known him about an hour, but the thought cuts into me.

Then I realise that I shouldn't care.

"I'm Emerald Savage. And don't screw with me, my father was a mass murderer."


	13. Chapter 13 Will

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Please review, follow and favourite. All of them make me want to write more and more and more, and without them, I might not update quite as much.**

**Hope you enjoy!  
**

_**Will**_

I shower and dress, feeling completely numb. I run a hand through my wet hair, pacing up and down my room. Dad told me before I had my shower that _she_'d been wandering around the house this morning. She even traveled from my room to my mom and dad's en-suite. The thought of that... _thing_... being anywhere near Mom is a killer. All of the Benedict boys were brought up to practically kiss the ground my mother walks on, the thought that a killer is wandering the house and nosing around Mom's room is almost too much.

I spoke to Dad about getting her away from here.

He agrees.

But there's nothing he can do. An order is an order.

I snarl and grab one of my textbooks, hurling it towards the wall. At the last minute I stop it with telekinesis and the book drops to the ground. I sigh and sit on my bed, shoving my hands roughly through my hair.

"Will?"

I start at the soft voice at the door. For a second, a small – _extremely small_ – part of me wishes it's...

No. Never mind.

Sky pokes her head around the door, and grins at the sight of my frozen position. Wide eyes and hands still stuck in my hair.

I relax with a sigh and lean against the wall, my back resting against it while my butt is on my bed.

_She_ slept here last night.

Jesus.

Sky frowns and comes towards me, she must've seen the shift in my aura.

_Sometimes little sister's power is annoying._

"What's up, Sky?"I ask, feigning a calm I do not feel.

She stops in front of me, hands in her big jumper's pockets.

She shrugs. "Well, you're family's freaking out about Emerald. She's been locked-up in your parents' room while there's a meeting down stairs"

I wince at the words "locked-up", Emerald has had enough of that in her life. But I quickly shove that away in favour for something else.

"A meeting?" I sit up, shocked and a little hurt. "How come I wasn't called?"

She laughs. "Oh, they're convinced you took one for the team by having to come back with sick all over you." She wrinkles her nose. "And anyway, you've done enough. Nobody even knew she had gotten out. Karla just assumed she had ran back upstairs. You saved her, Will. Well done." She gives me a thumbs up.

"Why aren't you there?"

She rolls her eyes. "Zed's worried little ol' me wouldn't be able to deal with the grim details of her dad. And anyway, when I look at Emerald I want to see her for her, not for what her dad did. And I know from personal experience that just because you were raised one way, doesn't mean you have to grow up that way."

I shake my hand with a rueful smile. "You really are something, Sky. Are you ever bitchy?"

She winks at me. "Of course, you should here the things Phee and I say about you." She starts fanning her cheeks. "The things we say!"

I grin. "I bet it's about how you guys wish _I _was your soulfinder."

She laughs as she heads towards the door. "Keep telling yourself that, babe!" She calls back.

"Oh, Sky baby you're making me blush!" I do my spot-on impersonation of Zed. Her sweet, tinkling laughter follows her out the door.


	14. Chapter 14 Will

_**Will**_

It's seven pm, and the great decision that my family has come up with?

"Well, she hasn't caused us any harm, so we might as well let her stay."

Diamond was the one to come up with that idea, being the peacekeeper that she is, I'm not surprised.

I just lounge on the sofa, yawning and flicking through the channels. Yves, Phee, Zed, Sky, Xav and Crystal are outside playing baseball. Well... I say playing, when they're really just running around with a bat as their soulfinders hunt them down for a kiss and a make-out session.

I wonder who of those couples are virgins?

I shake my head, not really caring. What happens between the couples stays between the couples. They can all be prude, abstaining teenagers for all I care.

Though with the way the guys stare at the girls, and the girls constantly blush, I doubt it.

A pang of jealousy so strong that I lurch up in my seat takes hold of me. I grit my teeth and breath through it. This will get me no where.

It's the middle of summer, so Zed and Sky are getting ready to head off the college at the beginning of the school year. Finally all the boys are going to college, Xav included as he got into med school.

I try to think of the hot girl in my forensic class – Danielle – as I keep my thoughts away from soulfinders. Petite, dark hair, blue eyes, great body, we were getting pretty close before the summer, though I decided to cool things off as she goes to New York to live with her parents for holidays.

I sigh and flick _Jersey Shore_ on. I used to hate this until Phee got me hooked on it.

_Damn English chick._

I don't think I could pick a favourite of my brothers' soulfinders. Sky is sweet and cute, but scrappy. A great person if you need comforting. Phee is just the opposite. Never holding her tongue when she has an opinion, and you can bet it'll be heard. The only time she really shuts up is when her and my brother are playing tonsel tennis, or she's reading a book. Crystal is cool. Great for designing things and just as funny and sarcastic – though I'd never tell him this – as her soulfinder Xav. And Diamond is caring and out-going. A nice woman who seems a little bit like Mom, though I'd never say that to Trace. He'd kill me.

Speaking of the devil, Trace pushes my legs away and plonks himself down on the sofa with me. He kicks his legs up onto the table – as Mom is no where to be seen to tell him off – and crosses his arms over his chest, looking at the T.V.

I sigh again and turn it off. Sitting up and sensing that he wants a heat-to-heart.

_Just what I need._

"So... Emerald." Trace starts talking.

"No, Trace. I'm Will." I reply sarcastically.

He shakes his head with a smile. "Not what I meant, bro. I'm talking about Emerald."

"Yeah, what about her?" The fact that her father is a mass murderer who's probably killed hundreds and hundreds of people? How, maybe he didn't just kill savants? How I shot and killed a man to save the off-spring _of a mass murderer_?

"She's nineteen as well, Will. And turns twenty around the time you do."

Holy shit.

Not what I was expecting.

"Yeah... and?" My heart is thumping. The world is spinning. I feel sick. Holy crap I'm going to faint. Holy crap I'm going to faint. Holy crap I'm going to faint.

"Will... she could be your soulfinder."

Shit.

I'm out.


	15. Chapter 15 Emerald

_**Author's**_** Note:****  
**

**Please review, follow and favourite! :)  
**

**Hope you enjoy!  
**

_**Emerald**_

"Knock, knock, knock!" Comes the voice of a male from the other side of the door.

I roll my eyes even though he can't see me.

_Why doesn't the idiot just _actually_ knock?!_

I'm in a pretty pissy mood and I know that Will is going to come in and just stuff everything up more.

Then my heart doubles in beats.

How did I know that was Will's voice? He sounds just like his other brothers.

I purse my lips and tell myself I'm being ridiculous, because I am and I lean my head forward as Will comes into the room, making sure my hair covers my face.

"Hey, Emerald. Or is it Emmie? Did people use to call you Emmie?" He bounds in, carrying a tray full of food. I shuffle over on the bed as he plonks himself down, grinning like a Cheshire cat as he puts the tray between us.

"Voila!" He exclaims, grinning at me. "Your dinner has arrived."

I look down at it. Steak and fries. I look back up at him, but he can't see me through my hair.

"Good. You can go now." I pick up the knife and fork and start eating.

He ignores my last sentence and grins. "You like steak? A lot of girls don't, for some reason." He chuckles. "I love a girl who loves steak."

I choke on my food, dropping my cutlery and clutching my neck.

In a heartbeat Will is up and throwing his arms around my waist. He lifts me up, and sets me back down on to the ground, so we're standing with his chest against my back. I give horrible coughs as I feel a piece of meat stuck in my windpipe. Will places his hands under my ribcage and starts pulling up, giving me the Heimlich maneuver.

After a few thrusts I spew the piece of meat out, it lands on the tray. I sag in Will's grip as I suck in aching breaths.

"Are you okay?" He doesn't let me rest long. He swings me into his arms, wedding-style, and carries me out of the room. I feel the tingle of telepathy and then the irritating brother – Xav – is in the hallway, striding down. Will sits me with my back against the wall, he crouches beside me, pushing my hair out of my face but I slap him away, tipping my chin down so my hair falls like a red veil again.

"Is she okay, Xav?" Will asks. Xav takes my hand and closes his eyes, concentrating hard. I feel a soothing feeling down my throat as the ache leaves and I slump against the wall.

Xav blinks his eyes open and looks to his brother. "She's fine, dude. Relax." He grins at me and then stands back up, bounding away like Will. Will sighs in relief and then picks me up again, cradling me to his chest.

"Back off!" I exclaim, trying to wriggle my way out of his arms. He just grins down at me and carries me back to his parents' room where I've been staying today.

He plops me back down on the bed and sits beside me, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, now that that drama is over, why don't you finish your dinner." He suggests.

I glare at him, but he can't see through my hair. So I speak instead.

"You're not my dad y'know." I remind him.

"Well I should hope not, word has it that he was a mass murderer." His eyes narrow at me.

I suck in a breath. "And what, you blame me for that? My dad did what he wanted to do. He was evil before he met his soulfinder and he was evil while he was with her."

Will's eyebrows furrow together. "He had a soulfinder?"

"Well, duh. We all do." I try not to feel how my heart tightens at the thought of my perfect boy. My soulfinder.

God, I hate him.

"Bu... but, soulfinders are supposed to balance you out. Make you good." Will tells me and I roll my eyes.

And then I laugh.

Right in his face.

"Somebody's been listening to too many fairy tales." I pop a fry into my mouth.

He shakes his head. "No, no you're wrong. Once you find your soulfinder, you're not evil anymore."

I roll my eyes again. "Oh God, really? You think your soulfinder comes along and all the evil is suddenly sucked out of you? Oh, wow, you're even more innocent than I thought. Do your parents get a kick out of lying to you kids? Because, seriously, falling in love does not make you a better person. If anything, it makes you worse. You're selfish, obsessive and constantly in your own little world. Never paying attention or listening to anyone. All you can do is think about that person and fantasize about when you'll see them again. Wonder how your future will pan out and wish for more time with that person."

He blinks, surprised at my little speech. "How do you know this?"

"My parents were soulfinders." I shrug, but I'm not telling the whole truth.

Will folds his arms over his chest. "So are mine, and four of my brothers have their soulfinders, I think I know a little bit more than you when it comes to soulfinders."

"Yes. But do you know about love?"

That makes him pause, and he looks away, his deep blue eyes looking troubled.

"No. I'm waiting for my soulfinder to come along."

I bite out a bark of laughter, but there's no humour in it. "Yeah. And how's that working out for you?"

"I'm still waiting."

"And you will be. For a long time. Maybe forever. You really think every one of your brothers will find their soulfinder? What if you're the only one left? What if all of them find their soul mate and little ol' Will has no one?"

He glares at me. Grabbing my tray and stalking to the door, then he turns around once more.

"You know what? You're as evil as your dad. He used violence to put people down, but you just screw with their head." He shakes his head. "You're evil."

I raise an eyebrow at him as he leaves the room.

I swear to God my heart does not sink.

And I swear to God that I do not miss him.


	16. Chapter 16 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Don't forget to review, favourite and follow! :)**

**As it's mid-term break I'll probably be posting a lot for this.  
**

**Hope you enjoy!  
**

_**Emerald**_

My eyes wander to the door as I hear a knock. My heart fumbles a bit, waiting for Will to peak in, but instead it's the little blonde girl, Sky I think her name was.

She smiles when she comes in and walks towards me. I lie in the middle of the bed, my hair spread out and my arms open like an angel's. I don't bother speaking or sitting up. I don't want her here. Why can't people just leave me alone?

Or, better yet, set me free.

She perches on the end of the bed, a bowl and spoon in her hands.

"Hey Emerald. Remember me? I'm Sky."

I stay silent.

She scoots closer to me and then sets the bowl on to my stomach. I let out a hiss and sit up fast as the bowl is freezing.

Because I sit up so fast the bowl slips off my stomach, tumbling to the floor.

"Stop it!" Sky exclaims.

My arm flings out and the bowl stops upright, just short of hitting the ground. It hovers for a second and then hurtles back my way, into my hands. It lands with a "_slap!_" in my hands and I look down at it to realise there's ice-cream in there. Chocolate. My favourite.

I look to the blonde, English girl.

"How did you know?"

She frowns. "Know what?"

"That I love chocolate."

She grins. "You're a girl who has been through an emotional experience and hasn't had ice-cream in five years. It was a lucky guess."

I don't question and quickly tuck in. She leans back and sighs in content.

"You know, having a girl around that isn't constantly obsessing over her soulfinder is going to be fun."

She must see me stop eating and see the look of pain cross over my expression. She sits up quickly.

"Oh!" She bites her lip. "I didn't even think... sometimes I just talk and tal-..." She shakes her head. "I'm so sorry. I know it must be hard not having a soulfinder and everything..." She trails off, suddenly unsure if she should be in my room anymore.

I take a deep breath. "Which one is your soulfinder again?"

She blinks. "Um... Zed. The... um... delinquent looking one. He's the youngest."

I nod, shoving another spoonful of ice-cream into my mouth and thanking God that this little girl filled this bowl to the brim. "How did you meet?"

She blushes then. "Well... I guess, we met when I went to his school, but we never really talked until I hit him with a shopping bag."

I raise an eyebrow, quite impressed. "You assaulted your soulfinder."

She frowns and then slowly smiles, her blue eyes sparkling and she starts to laugh. "Yeah! I guess... I never really thought about it like that but I did assault him." She smirks and I lift my hand up.

"High-five." I say and she slaps her hand on to mine. "You, little Sky, take girl power to a whole new level."

She nods, still smirking. "Damn right. Zed thinks I'm some delicate little flower, but really, I totally abuse him."

I don't miss the slight lilt in her accent, saying that her English accent is diluting with some American. All I can think is _if I stay here long enough will that happen to me?_

I hope not.

"Anyway," Sky continues. "I didn't even know I was a savant. I suppose I had suppressed my powers – I can see auras – so I never really thought anything of it. Well, I thought I was crazy, but I didn't think I had any kind of supernatural ability." She shrugs. "I thought Zed was some weird stalking boy, or that he was playing a trick on me, trying to get me to sleep with him or something." Her cheeks turn pink and I interrupt her next sentence by raising an eyebrow.

"Are you-"

Sky's cheeks turn bright red. "Am I what?"

I just grin, knowing the answer. "Never mind. Carry on."

She clears her throat a few times. "Well, eventually he got me to believe him. I kind of feel in love with him, I met some of his family and we got along. Then I was kidnapped and th-"

"You were kidnapped?!" I demand.

She startles a bit and then looks to me. "Yeah. I was kidnapped."

"How did you escape?"

She smiles slightly. "Oh, Zed saved me."

And... it's like a punch to the gut. She was kidnapped and her soulfinder saved her. I was kidnapped and my soulfinder didn't save me. I suck in a breath and bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from crying.

What makes her so special? Is it because she's pretty? Because she's nice? Were her parents kind, funny savants who helped charities and brought their sweet little daughter to school every morning? Were they the kind of people who thought of others before themselves? Were they part of the Savant Net too?

Is it my family's fault that I've never found my soulfinder?

Sky keeps talking, telling me all about her and Zed, but all I can think is:

I hate you.

I hate you so much it hurts.

"Sky what the hell are you doing here?!" A boy shouts from the doorway. We both look up to see her soulfinder glaring at me. In a flash he grabs Sky and pulls her to him.

"Zed get-off-of...me, you idiot!" She shrieks, pounding his arms until he lets her go. He _tsks_ at her and rolls his eyes, giving her a playful smile as she pouts like a petulant child. Then he looks up at me.

"Don't touch her." He growls.

"Zed!"

He ignores his soulfinder. "I may not be able to read your mind because you're harboring some serious power, but you need to stay away from her. You're here, and I don't like it, but I'll accept it as long as you stay away from her."

"Zed, she didn't even do anything!" Sky protests, but it goes to deaf ears as her soulfinder and I have a staring competition.

He looks away first, finding my glazed over gaze unsettling. I give him a bland smirk with heavy-lidded eyes.

"She came to me, Zed. Don't get it mixed up." I say, lazily.

He shakes his head, jaw clenched. "Just don't touch her."

"I'm right here, you know!" Sky says, but we ignore her again.

"Don't worry, Benedict. I won't lay an evil little finger on your precious _soulfinder_." My lips quirk upwards. "But you should keep an eye on her. It's not good to let your little _soulfinder_ nosy around other people's rooms. Or burst into rooms where murderer's daughters stay." I lift up my bowl and pop a spoon heaped with ice-cream into it. "But you should let her bring me ice-cream. Or at least let her leave the ice-cream outside the door for me." I wink at him. "Au revoir, Zed Benedict." I look to Sky. "Arrivederci, Sky."

Sky tilts her head to the side. "You speak Italian and French?"

"Of course not." I smile sweetly at them for the final time. "Make sure the door doesn't hit you on the way out."

Zed drags his soulfinder through the door and shuts it with a slam.

I put the bowl on the nightstand and lie back down, resuming my position I was in before Sky came. I stare at the white ceiling blankly.

Why do they get to be together? Even when angry you can tell they love each other a lot.

I want that. I want it so much it hurts. Why isn't he here yet? Why haven't I met him?

I've never met him and already I resent him.

It's not fair, I know it isn't. Maybe he hates me too. Maybe he wants to meet me. Maybe he also spent sleepless nights praying that I'd help him.

But I couldn't.

Because if he really _was_ praying for me to help him, I couldn't.

Because while he was praying for me, I was praying for him.


	17. Chapter 17 Will

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Will is a bit of girl. Just a teensy bit.**

**Please review, follow and favourite.  
**

**Hope you enjoy! :)**

_**Will**_

"Will, you're being an idiot." Trace smacks me upside the head and I turn around, pushing him off me.

"Shut up, Trace! It's not possible. The girl is completely evil and insane." I snarl, running and tangling my hands in my hair as I sit on my bed.

Trace rolls his eyes, his arms crossed as he leans against my closed bedroom door. I can't help but notice how his wedding ring glints in the light of my lamp.

"Xav thought that too, so did Crystal, and look at them. Completely in love!"

I glare at him and then squeeze my eyes shut. "Ju-just shut up! Leave me alone, I wanna go to bed."

He narrows his eyes. "You may not show it, but I know you're suffering, bro. You need your soulfinder and the sooner the better. Just go up there now and tell her! Try to use telepathy."

"No."

"Why not?"

"She might be sleeping." I grumble, lamely.

He sighs, exasperated and starts running his hands through his hair. "Don't be so _stupid_! Everyone hates their soulfinder's for a little bit and then they fall in love."

"Oh, shut up, Trace! Don't act like you know! You and Diamond fell in love instantly." I snap my fingers. "Just like that. You have no idea."

"So you admit she's your soulfinder, then."

"Hell no! I will _not_ be stuck with her for the rest of my life."

"But what if she's your soulfinder?"

"But what if she isn't?!" I leap up, advancing on him, but he remains where he is, staring calmly at me. "What if I get my hopes up? Huh? What if I start to hope? Hm? If I start to look at that girl in a different light, start to portray her as an angel – _my _angel – I might start to get feelings. I might start to _like_ her. And then, when I find out she's not my soulfinder it will kill me. It will probably _kill_ me. What if she isn't my soulfinder?"

Trace shakes his head, takes a deep breath and looks me in the eyes. "But what if she is?"

I realise it's like talking to a wall. I wrench the door open and shove him out. Gritting my teeth.

"Piss off, Trace." I growl before slamming the door in his face.

I shove myself off the wall and stalk over to my bed. I grab my textbooks and hurl them across the room, this time I let them actually hit it. Liking the way the thump reverberates through the house.

I shove my hands in my hair and take deep breaths. Deep breaths. I fall back on to the bed.

_This can't be happening. This can't be happening._

I don't even know anything about her and there's a chance she could be my soulfinder. What do I even know about her?

Emerald Savage. Nineteen years old. Australian. Red hair. Green eyes. Pale skin. Skinny, unbearably skinny. Snarky attitude. Dark demeanor. Crazy gleam in her eyes. Her hair is almost always covering her face in some sort of dark red curtain. Like a waterfall of blood. She's tall as well, willowy. Her accent is rich and funny and sexy as hell.

Not that I've noticed.

I bury my face in my hands. It's like the cosmos have make a perfect girl for me. Like they know I love red heads with hot accents and sarcastic attitudes.

A perfect girl for me.

Shit, that's the definition of a soulfinder.


	18. Chapter 18 Emerald

_**Emerald**_

I have spent one week and two days with the Benedicts.

It's now Monday.

Suicide is an option.

One that I am seriously considering.

Sky, Karla, Saul, Xav and Crystal are the only ones that talk to me. I'm sure the other girls would like to talk to me too, but their soulfinders have them on lock-down, not letting any of them out of their sights. The only reason I even talk to Sky now is because she sneaks away from Zed when he's fast asleep and she sprints to my room, carrying some form of candy.

I am, begrudgingly, starting to like that girl. Then again, hating Sky Bright is like hating a puppy.

Right now I look at myself in the full-length mirror. I've fattened up – thank God – and I remember when I was fourteen and fifteen how I used to wish I was thinner, skinnier. I was always a chubby girl, big cheeks and thighs, but now they're practically non-existent. So every night I wait for Sky and her new plot to make me fatter.

I'm in clothes that are actually my size now. A few days ago Crystal – who I can just about stand, though Xavier is a whole other story – came in with bags of clothes, underwear, socks, shoes and toiletries for me. I have on a pair of skinny jeans – emphasis on the word "skinny" - and a green tank top. Even though the air-conditioning is on in the house, I'm still constantly sweating as it's summer.

I hate that I can stare out the window for as long as I want, gazing at the glowing sun and green grass, but not being able to leave the house. I'm on lock-down and I have been since I tried to escape all those days ago.

I'm trying to look nice today though, as it's dinner time and, for the first time, they're allowing me to eat dinner with the whole clan. I don't feel excited or scared or nervous just...

Wary.

If I screw this up God only knows what will happen.

Maybe they'll send me back to Thomas.

I don't like how my whole body shivers at the thought and I have to press the heel of my hands to my eyes to stop my vision from blurring at the scary thought.

Maybe Thomas is waiting for me. Saul still hasn't told me how he got me out.

Or why.

I take a deep breath as there's a knock on the door. I look over to it, waiting for it to open as that's what this family seems to do.

I mean, why knock when you're just going to barge in anyway?

But it doesn't open, so I lift my hand and flick my wrist, the door swinging open to reveal a tall, lean man with dark skin, hazel eyes and a neat haircut. His eyes widen in shock as he sees the door open with me all the way on the other side of the room, but then he smiles politely and enters, closing the door – with his hand... weirdo – behind him.

He walks over to me, hands loosely in his pockets as he comes over. He puts out a hand when he nears me and I cautiously shake it.

"Hello Emerald, I'm Uriel. Second eldest. I'm sorry I haven't visited yet." He smiles a little and shrugs. "Family business."

I don't bother on telling him that I know he's lying, instead I just smile serenly.

"Hi."

"That's a nice accent you have there. Australian?"

I nod.

_As if you didn't know._

"So, what brings you to my humble abode?" I motion to the spare room they have given me a few days ago.

He looks around, smiling slightly at my clothes strewn all over the place. "I love what you've done with it. And I'm here because dinner's ready and my dad wanted you to meet me."

I cock a brow. "Where's your other half?"

His eyes flicker close as a pained expression crosses over his face, but then he opens them and he's alright. "Sitting pretty and waiting for me out there somewhere, I hope."

I wince. "You in the same boat as me?"

He nods.

I pat him on the shoulder, giving him a friendly smile. "Hang in there, kid."

He smiles. "Sky told me you were cool."

"Sky told you of our lesbian adventures?"

His eyebrows shoot up and I grin. "I'm screwing with you, Uriel. Just make sure you don't tell tall, dark and the-only-boy-to-ever-get-a-period about her visits up here. He'll kill me and then tap her on the nose or squirt her with water like a misbehaving cat."

He frowns. "You're an odd one, aren't you?"

I shrug. "We offspring-of-murderers often are."

Uriel sighs and nods. "Yeah. I guess."

He turns to walk out and I follow him, shutting my door behind us as he leads me through the house. Even though I was allowed to leave my room, I haven't. I've got a bathroom in there and Karla always brings my food up when it's time to eat, as Saul didn't want me near the family.

He's changed his tune though.

_I wonder what he wants_?

I'm lead into the dining table, the place already bustling with people as I hear the clunking of pots from the kitchen as people start to dish the dinner up. As Uriel and I enter of course, all chatter stops and people look to us. Uriel turns around, putting a hand on my shoulder and blocking the eyes of everyone in the dining room with his body.

"Don't pay attention to them, Emerald. You'll be apart of the family for as long as you're here. Mom accepts you, so you're like a daughter already." He whispers.

I look at him.

_Why is he being so nice?_

It's creeping me out.

I just nod and he smiles, leading me to a spare seat. Sky is to my right and Uriel is to my left. Zed is on the other side of Sky, shooting me glares but I just stick my tongue out at him when everyone goes back to their conversations. Zed rolls his eyes while Sky giggles.

"Mature." He mumbles. "Real mature."

Sky rolls her eyes and punches him in the arm, but he merely blinks and starts tickling her. High pitched laughter follows after, from both of them as she tries tickling him.

The stab of pain to my heart comes back, envy, jealousy and hatred floods through my veins and I grab the edge of the wooden table to stop myself from hurting them. Hurting people just seems second nature now.

I'm becoming my father.

I look away from them and to my left where I see Uriel hold an equally pained expression.

"It's a hard knock life, huh?" I whisper and he nods, giving me a small smile.

"You go that right, Annie."

Just then Saul comes in, he looks to me and smiles a little, this time it reaches his eyes.

"Hey, Emerald." He booms. "I'm happy you can join us." Other people scurry out of the kitchen until every seat – except Saul and karla's – is taken.

"How about I make the introductins?"

I nod, quickly letting my hair spill in front of my face, the attention is too much.

He walks down to the last chair, putting a hand over the person's head. A girl with dark hair and an olive skin tone.

"This is Phee, Yves' soulfinder." She frowns at me, suspicious.

_Smart girl._

He then moves the hand over a boy with ink black hair and glasses.

"This is Yves, second youngest." He gives me a little wave, looking awkward.

And so it goes on until he tells me everyone's name and who their soulfinder is or how old they are or whatever until magical flying plates zoom out of the kitchen and land in front of everyone. It's a chiken curry of some kind, with naan bread in the middle. Karla comes bustling out, smiling at me as she takes her seat and Saul sits beside her, kissing her cheek as he does so.

Everyone tucks in as a roar of chatter takes hold of everyone. Everyone talking loudly, smiling, laughing, arguing or rolling their eyes while I sit quietly, stuffing my face with the spicy food and hoping no one tries to talk to me. I look over at the girl at the end – Phee, I think – and see her curry has no chicken.

_Vegetarian._

I think with an eye roll. In my house if you were a vegetarian you starved, as meat was served for every meal or course. Steak being the favourite.

_My family sounds like murderering, selfish, vicious, carnivorous beasts. _I think with a shrug, scarfing down the food.

Sky nudges me halfway through dinner.

"You know, it's okay to breathe between mouthfuls. Everyone has a plate so no one's going to steal your food." She says, kindly.

"Speak for yourself!" Xav says as he leans across the table – across Will who I am sitting directly across from and who hasn't spoken to me since several days ago. Seems like Zed isn't the only dude on his period in this house – and snatches a naan from my plate.

"Hey!" I protest. Without thinking about itI hurl my steak knife – they must of ran out of the other ones - across the table, it skewers the naan bread in Xav's hand and keeps hurtling towards him, taking the bread with it as conversation stops and everyone stares wide-eyed at the crazy girl who just through a steak knife at their brother.

No one is quick enough with their hands or telekinesis so the knife keeps going, right to his heart as his eyes bulge out of their sockets.

As it goes to the heart it stops.

Hovering for a minute and then...

Coming back to me before it stabs him.

I grab the bread, take out the knife and place it back on my plate.

Xav stares at me. Breathing heavily.

I narrow my eyes at him.

"Nobody touches my food."

And then I carry on eating.


	19. Chapter 19 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Please review, follow and favourite.**

**Ta-dah! A lot of you seem to think Emerald's cool, so thank you. I think she's pretty cool myself, but I'm biased. But thanks for all the lovely comments and keep them coming in. As I've been doing for the last couple of days today you'll have this chapter and another one, I already have it written but it's a big chapter - not in words, but in what happens, all my chapters are short, sorry - so I want you guys to wait a bit.  
**

**Hope you enjoy! :)  
**

_**Emerald**_

Nervous laughter echoes from my right, Sky trying to draw attention to herself.

"Sorry, Xav... th-that's my fault." She stutters out the lie.

His face is pale and drawn, his raised hand – the one that was holding _my food_ – is shaking slightly.

"_Your_ fault?!" Zed demands. "How was it your fault? We all saw it! It was _her_." He shoots me a poisonous glare.

_Chill out, mate. Your soulfinder's fine, what's with the temper tantrums? _I think.

"Yeah." Sky says, squaring her little shoulders. "I asked Emerald to show me her powers when I least expected it." She looks to a traumatised Xav and fakes a giggle. "You didn't believe she was actually going to stab you, did you?"

I lean forward, chin resting on my palm. "Yeah, Xav. You didn't think I'd _actually_ kill you. Did you?"

He stays silent.

Mute.

I give a low chuckle. "Now _that's_ crazy. Why would I kill you?"

I can read it in his eyes.

_Oh, so because my dad was a butchering savage _I'm_ one as well? _

I laugh again. "If I was going to kill you, I wouldn't do it in front of all these lovely people."

He snaps his jaw shut, clenching it.

"Listen to Sky, Xav. It'll help you sleep better at night."

Saul clears his throat. "That's enough, Emerald." His tone ringing of finality as I look towards him, we all do. He pinches the bridge of his nose. "I knew it was a mistake to let you out."

"A _mistake_?!" I demand, standing up and glaring at him. "Oh, Mr. Benedict the only _mistake_ you made was letting the kid of a murderer into your house. Because, _apparently_, if your _dead_ father – may I remind you – is a murderer, then you, obviously, are too." My tone is laced heavily with sarcasm. "I'm sorry, it seems that I forgot that _logic_ when I was being held captive _because _of my dead dad. So really, I want to be _nothing_ like him. But it's you and your horrible family that's driving me to murder."

I see Will roll his eyes so I wheel on him.

"What's your problem?!"

"Your dramatics." He replies, dark blue eyes narrowed.

"_My _dramatics. A week ago you were saying how you could fall in love with a girl like me and then five seconds later you're proclaiming to the sky how sick and evil I am."

His face scorches at the first part and he swallows. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"The hell you don't, William Benedict. No wonder you haven't found your soulfinder. If you were mine and I found out I'd be tied to you for the rest of my life, I'd kill myself."

Silence envelopes us all as the last words leave my lips.

_Oh no, did I just say that?_

Everyone always told me that my sarcastic, bitchy side ran off with my mouth while my brain was trying to catch up, probably to filter the words I said. This is one occasion where my brain was unsuccessful and never made it to my mouth.

Will stares at me, blue eyes as big as saucers as he stands up slowly.

"My soulfinder might commit suicide when she finds me? Well, at least that'll be her choice." He shrugs, though I can see the move is painful. "But you're soulfinder... oh, you'll probably find him and then all that pent up aggression, and anger and sadness and loneliness will come bubbling to the surface and will overtake you. And you'll kill him. You'll murder your own soulfinder."

"No." I say, almost desperately. "I won't!"

"You just almost killed my brother because he stole some of your _food_! How the hell are you going to react when somebody actually does something _bad_ to you?!"

I clench my jaw as everyone around the table bears witness to our fight. "You'll find out soon, Will. Make sure to lock your door tonight." I spin on my heel, ready to flee.

"Oh, really?!" He laughs. "You can't kill everyone who just tells you the truth!"

I stalk to my room.

_Just watch me._


	20. Chapter 20 Emerald

_**Emerald**_

As I walk quietly to Will's room in the middle of the night I pass Xav and Crystal's room. I notice the door's locked.

_Smart boy_.

My hands shake slightly as I stand in front of the white door leading to William Benedict. I hear soft snores from inside. I take a deep breath, recalling the words that were said earlier.

_He thinks I'm going to murder my soulfinder._

That comment cut deeper than I'd like to admit. But I haven't cried in so long, and I won't let Will make me cry now.

My hair is tied up in a ribbon as I couldn't find a bobbin, so I reach behind my hair and tighten the blood red knot. I take a deep breath, feeling naked because my hair isn't covering my face, and I silently twist the unlocked door and enter William's room.

It's exactly as I remember it, save for some broken pieces of plaster on the walls and books strewn all over the floor. The room is dark, casting an ominous shadow as I delicately make my way over to the big bed near the back wall.

Will sleeps with one arms behind his head – as if he fell asleep staring at the ceiling – and one hand on his broad chest. It moves up and down rhythmically with his breathing. His face is softer, younger looking as he sleeps. His mouth is closed, almost a smile pulling at it. His face has erased all worry or wary lines that come across it when I'm near and I finally realise why Sky always tells me how nice and happy he is. How he couldn't hate anybody.

_Except me._

And for some reason, the thought of this boy hating me is a killer.

But I'm a killer too.

Which is why I'm here.

The anger of those harsh words we exchanged earlier comes back, ten-fold as I advance on him. Making sure I don't trip over anything.

But just as I reach him, placing a hand softly to his chest and closing my eyes, calling my power, something changes. Like the currents in the air are all coming towards me. As if everything is pausing in anticipation for this moment. As if something monumental will happen.

My eyes flutter open just as Will's snap open too.

_STOP!_

The thought is shoved into my head so hard that I stumble back, clutching my head between newly sweating hands, crying out in pain.

* * *

"_Allow no one in, Emerald. No one. Your head is your own, you're not like the other savant girls. You have power. You can protect your mind like no one else. You can protect thoughts and urges so deep that not even you realise you have them." My dad whispered to me the day before he was killed, as if he knew what was going to happen. "Telepathy is a hard thing. As it requires little to nothing when it comes to energy or power, it allows people into your head. Don't. Let. Them. In."_

_Five hours of trying to get in and my dad finally fell to his knees, sweat rolling down his forehead as he breathed heavily._

"_You are so strong." He looks up at me, a smile in his dark eyes. "No one will get in."_

_No one did._

_Not when the Bad People sent every savant they had at me. Every girl in every cell was tested to see if they could get into my head, but none could._

_No one could._

_And I couldn't undo it. I couldn't. Telepathy was gone for me now, because no one can read my mind or get in._

* * *

"Emerald!" I hear a male snarl into my ear. My eyes flutter open and I stare into the dark blue eyes of William Benedict.

_Will?_ I ask, telepathically.

His eyes widen and it's like everything goes in slow motion. He goes rearing back, stumbling on to his bed. He cradles his head in his hands. I scramble up, running over to him and lifting his head up, so he looks me in the eyes.

He's breathing heavily. "You're very loud." He says, giving me a small, rueful smile, all signs of the violent man that leaned over me seconds ago is gone. His demeanor completely changing.

I look to him with confused eyes, but I don't hurt him. All thoughts of killing William Benedict seem... ridiculous. Why would I?

"How did you get in?" I whisper, so confused. "No one has ever been able to use telepathy on me before." I look around the dark room.

Everything seems so... clear. I can even see the dust particles shifting in the slight breeze of the air conditioning.

I look back to him and he frowns. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Emerald. I'm your soulfinder."

He has a second to catch me as I faint into his strong arms.

**_Author's Note:_**

**__Mwahahaha!**

**First of all by "Bad People" she means the people who kidnapped her and held her hostage.  
**

**And second of all. She's found out!  
**

**Or has she?  
**

**I don't think Emerald is the type of person to immediately forgive people for all their sins just because they're soulfinders...  
**

**Le sigh. The story is no where near finishing ;)  
**

**Hope you enjoyed! :)  
**


	21. Chapter 21 Emerald

_**Emerald**_

"'_Cause I'm in too deep and I'm trying to keep up above in my head, instead of going under..._"

My eyelids flutter open at the soft, low voice that seems to be singing Sum 41.

"Emerald?" Someone whispers into my ear, shifting underneath me and I realise I'm lying on top of someone. I feel their clothed chest underneath me as I close my eyes. They smell of pine-needles and sleep. I bury my face in the shirt and I hear a sort of _thumping_ noise start to speed up until I think it might explode. I move my hand up the chest, to the face of the person slowly and as the hand moves the thumping speeds up even _more_.

With a gasp I realise the thumping is a heart.

I slowly raise my head, my eyes catching the eyes of...

William Benedict...

My

Soulfinder?

My

Soulfinder.

My

Soulfinder!

My

Soulfinder?!

No.

No!

No?!

Definitely not.

I shoot off his chest like a rocket, landing on unsteady legs where I then trip over myself, landing hard on my ass.

"Shit!" Will swears, leaping up and coming to my rescue. Before I can even blink Will has picked me up, swinging me around in his arms as his scent overwhelms me. Making me sleepy and needy.

_I want him..._

_Dead._

_Yes, yes. Dead. I mean... how could I want him any other way? Yeah... yeah... dead._

Insert nervous laughter here.

Will sets me on one side of the bed and then he goes and sits on the other, making it clear he doesn't want me near him and that he, too, is not accepting this...

_LIE!_

Because it has to be a lie, doesn't it? The Cosmos is just trying to trick us. We are _not_ soulfinders. No way.

I glance down at myself and gasp when I realise I'm wearing Will's _clothes_.

_Holy shit, do soulfinders have to dress like each other?_

_No... and we're not soulfinders!_

My subconscious seems to think I'm lying.

"What did you do?!" I demand, snapping my head to him. He looks to me, his expression blank but still looking kind of... sad. Depressed even.

"Shut up, everyone's still sleeping." He hisses, while still remaining expressionless. He sighs, leaning against the wall as he closes his eyes. He brings his knees up to his chest and rests his arms on them. I settle in, waiting for the story of what happened after I fainted.

My face burns as I think of the word.

_Fainted..._

"After you went down I heard people waking up, I knew they were coming here to figure out what all the noise was about. So, as I was having a frickin' panic attack as you had a nice sleep I saw that you were wearing a big T-shirt that barely covered your ass."

_Well, I thought I'd be killing you. It didn't really matter what I wore, did it?_

"So I just shoved some of my pants on you. Then I quickly lifted you up and put you on my chair near my desk, all slumped over and stuff so it looked like you had fallen asleep while talking or whatever. My dad and brothers came in. I told them you had come around midnight, wanting to apologise and that you were still just trying to wrap your head around the fact that you're alone. But then we both kind of dozed off and the shouting was coming from you because you were having night terrors." He shrugs. "Luckily they were too tired to ask any real questions, like why I let a murderer into my bedroom in the middle of the night."

I glare at him.

"What?"

"I'm not a murderer." I hiss.

He shrugs, lazily. "Whatever, I couldn't care less."

And for some unknown reason my eyes started watering, my vision blurring and my hands starting to shake as a lump forms in my throat.

I try to swallow, but nothing works. I end up choking back a sob.

I put the back of my hand to my mouth, appalled at what's happening. The last time I cried was when I realised that I would be staying in solitary confinement for a very long time.

I thought I'd be there for the rest of my life.

Will looks seriously alarmed. He quickly comes towards me, practically bounding over the space that separates us on the bed. He comes to me, taking my hand from my mouth and I shake my head.

_Idiot! _I scream into his head and he winces, his head snapping back as I start sobbing.

Some really broken-hearted sobs that wrack and shake my whole body, tears squeezing out of my eyes, everyone of them stinging and painful. Will recovers from my telepathy attack and picks me up easily, as if I weigh nothing. He brings me to his chest, tucking me in and cradling me. My sobs carry on. Making my whole body quake with tremors as I hiccup between them. He hands me a tissue he pulled out from God only knows where and gives it to me. I blow my nose and hurl it into the trash can by the door.

Soon my sobs turn to cries and my cries turn to pathetic little whimpers until all I'm left with is a blotchy face, swollen eyes, an aching throat and the hiccups. Will hands me another tissue and I wipe my face, calming my hiccups down.

Will gives a mirthless laugh. "I've only just found you and already I'm making my soulfinder cry." He murmurs, more to himself than to me.

But I hear it.

_NO! He thinks we're soulfinders..._

I break out of his arms and run. Not even pausing to think.

And I don't stop, not even when I burst through the front door and out into the chilly night.

Not even when I hear Will pounding after me.

Not even when my throat swells, bile rising up as I remember how unfit I am because I was kidnapped.

And every night I prayed for my soulfinder to save me when I was in my padded Hell.

And he did.

I just didn't realise I'd hate him so much for doing it.


	22. Chapter 22 Emerald

_**Emerald**_

My bare feet pounds on the dry dirt as I get caught and scraped from bushes and branches. It's so dark I can't see anything. My feet are scraped and bloodied from five minutes of running and my stomach is churning, bile rising and rising, but I refuse to stop. I can't.

He'll get me.

With a sob I realise my cheeks are wet with new tears and my legs are shaking with the strain of keeping me running. And like that I trip over a root in the ground. My face planting in the dirt as my body goes skidding along. Dirt getting everywhere.

I try to scramble up but he's there, he's found me.

Will wraps his strong arms around my waist as I start thrashing and screaming.

"LET ME GO!" I hoarsely scream. "LET ME GO!"

And he does, he drops me on to my feet and in a second I've crumpled to the ground, exhausted. I start dry-heaving. Going on my hands and knees as the bile finally rises up my throat and I vomit again and again, Will holding my hair up as I do.

When I'm finished I lean back, into Will as he hands me a tissue and I wipe my mouth and face. Getting the dirt off of me along with the tears and sick. He hands me a mint too, probably for my mouth and I take it gratefully, popping it in. My heart beats furiously in my chest with the sickness I feel towards my body.

_How could it betray me like this?_

I want to be able to run again.

Will is running his hand through my hair. Getting out all the little twigs. It's soothing and calming, lulling me back to health as the nausea leaves me.

"At least you didn't get sick on me this time." Will says softly, with a small chuckle.

I sit up slowly and Will drops his hands back into his lap. I stand up on unsteady legs, but quickly regain my footing. I turn around slowly as Will stands up too, looking down at me.

"We should probably be nicer to each other now that we're so-"

"Don't." I whisper, closing my eyes and curling my hands into tight fists.

"Emerald-" I feel a hand on my shoulder but I shake it off, eyes opening. I narrow them, swallowing hard.

"Don't you say that word."

"What?" He looks confused. "Soul-"

"I said don't say it!" I screech, blocking my ears with my hands.

"Okay." He says softly, his face looking so worried. He raises his hands in a placating gesture and I slowly put my arms down. "I won't say it. But tell me why?"

I stare at him hard. "Because it's a lie."

"What?!" He demands, coming closer to me, but I step back and he stops. He sighs in exasperation and runs his hands through his hair. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's not real."

"It is real!"

"It's not!"

_This is real! _Comes his sweet voice via telepathy and I shake my head, blocking my ears and glaring at him.

"It's not!" I scream at him.

And I swear my heart did not just pick up it's pace at the way I loved him being in my mind. At the way we felt closer.

He stares at me, astonished. "You'd... you'd really give up a life of happiness purely because you hate me?"

My hands lower to my sides and I swallow. I don't need to answer, he's seen it in my eyes.

He swears, kicking a tree and then swears some more when he hurts his foot. He turns to me.

"You can't do this! We're soulfinders!" He shouts.

"I told you not to say that word!" I scream back at him, hands in tight fists.

"Soulfinders, soulfinders, soulfinders, soulfinders, soulfinders, soulfinders!" He hollers into the night air as the stars twinkle down on us.

I shriek, putting my hands to my ears again.

"STOP!"

And he does and I lower my hands and we stare at each other.

"Okay." He whispers, looking confused and lost.

"Okay?"I whisper back, feeling confused and lost too.

"I'll stop. I won't... I won't say that word or act any different around you anymore." He whispers, his shoulders slumping.

"Oh." And in that one word I can hear such lonely disappointment that I'm even more confused. Is this not what I wanted? For him to leave me alone? Yes. It is.

So why do I feel as if he didn't fight enough for me? As if my heart was just stomped on by a bunch of Irish dancers?

"On one condition." He adds, his voice stronger as he takes a step closer to me, so I can see his eyes are such a deep, dark blue they're almost black.

"A condition?" My voice is breathless as he comes nearer.

"Yes." He says. Stopping so we're almost chest to chest.

"I will promise to leave you alone, to tell no one of what we found out tonight for a kiss."

_A kiss?_

My mind seems to slow down as he continues.

"A kiss on the lips. A proper one. One that lasts at least a minute... and then I'll leave you alone."

I swallow hard, my mouth suddenly bone dry. I blink at him, moistening my lips unconsciously.

"One kiss... an-and you'll pretend this never happened?" I whisper and he nods.

I swallow again and then...

And then...

And then...

I nod.

Agreeing to kiss him.

I'm suddenly unbearably shy, realising that I puked moments ago.

_Please let that breath mint work!_

He leans towards me, backing me up against a big tree trunk. He tilts his head down and I tilt mine up.

And suddenly, we're kissing.


	23. Chapter 23 Will

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_******Mwahaha...**_

_**Enjoy ;)  
**_

_**Will**_

Her lips are soft and taste of breath mints and... dirt.

But I couldn't care less. It's like a tidal wave of attraction sweeps over me, enveloping me in this need for Emerald.

_This is it. _I think. _I've found her._

I keep one hand on her waist as I push her harder against the tree, my other hand trailing over her body and to her lovely red hair where it gets lost in tangles of the soft, red stuff. My other hand goes to join it as one hand cups the back of her neck.

Her skin is so soft, unbelievably soft as I deepen the kiss and she makes slight gasping sounds. We break apart for a beat, me pulling back to give her some room, but she goes on her tip-toes, pulling me back by the front of my shirt. Her hands moving from my chest to my hair where she runs her fingers through it. Tangling her hands in it as I pull her away from the tree and closer to me.

Her body seems to wrap itself around me, and we fit perfectly together, until all that's separating us are our clothes, but I keep them on, even though I can tell from the way she's greedily kissing me that she doesn't want us to stop anytime soon. We'd be moving to fast if we did anything but kiss. And after all, that was the condition.

_The condition..._

I don't want her to leave. I don't want to have to ignore her, be mean to her. God, I can feel the burning need for her to be by my side already. The need to constantly have her hand in mine and her lips locked with my lips.

I _need_ her.

I lose track of time, all I know is that her skin is getting warmer as she slips her hands under my shirt. I slip mine under hers too, pressing my palm to the small of her back. She makes a little moaning sound and then sighs in bliss against my lips.

She wraps her arms around me, they're still under my shirt as we continue kissing. It's like our tongues have gotten married and are off to their honeymoon, they never want to leave each other.

And, really, who am I to complain?

I'm loving this.

The way her hair feels like silk through my fingers. The way her forehead presses against mine and when she breaks away for a slight breather she keeps her eyes closed, taking a deep breath and coming to kiss me again with a smile on her lips to signal that I'm making her so happy and I-

_SNAP!_

We spring apart at the sound of a breaking twig. I look down to discover it was me who had stepped on the twig. I look up to Emerald and realise our moment is ruined.

She touches her pink, bruised lips and looks at me with wide eyes.

"That was more than a minute." She whispers.

All I can do is nod, too shocked at feeling how sad I feel now that she's no longer in my arms to say anything important.

She closes her eyes, drops her hand to her side and breathes in, as if breathing in the strength to do what she does next.

She looks at me. "That was the condition. You ignore me from now on and that never happened." And then she stalks past me, striding back to the dark Benedict house.

I stay in the forest until the sun rises and the birds start singing. I stare at the place where my soulfinder stood.

And where I agreed to forget about her.


	24. Chapter 24 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_******This chapter is for CrazyCookie a.k.a Kathy (I think) I wasn't going to write a chapter today because I had school and everything (ugh... FML) but she gave me this really long, really amazing review which was probably the best thing I've ever read in my life. Really, it was. So I love you for that, I really do and I wish you weren't an anonymous guest reviewer :( I kind of live for reviews like that and see what happens when I get nice reviews? I give you... chapter 24!  
**_

_**And in case anyone was wondering, Emerald used to be a little more than "pudgy". Which was why when she used to go surfing she wore a wet-suit and didn't like going when people were around.  
**_

_**Expect an update on Saturday or Sunday at the latest.  
**_

_**Hope you enjoy! :)  
**_

_**Emerald**_

My bed feels colder.

I groan, kicking my feet in a tantrum. My hair is still wet from the shower I had after I got home, trying to wash off the remnants of that-

_Mind-blowing-_

Disgusting-

_Heart stopping-_

Horrifying-

_Earth shattering_

Kiss.

My mouth tastes of toothpaste and... I shudder... Will.

_My soulfinder..._

I HATE HIM!

So why do I feel like I'm lying to myself?

* * *

It has been six days and seven hours exactly since I kissed William Benedict.

But I'm not counting.

It's mid-morning in the bustling Benedict house. I sit in the kitchen, munching on some bacon, sausages, hash browns and toast. Everything is either swimming in grease or heaped with butter.

Sky is definitely trying to fatten me up.

She sits beside me, munching on her own sausage as Phee sits across from us, slurping down some orange juice. She's started talking to me since I almost killed Xav. I think she admires me for actually _attempting _to do it, instead of being like everyone else and just threatening.

"You did what we all wanted to do." She had said with a shrug five days ago. Since then we've been talking, nothing ground-breaking, but we're comfortable with each other.

Sky is around a lot, and I have to grudgingly admit that I like her. She reminds me of my old friends Cara and Lisa. Lisa looked a little like her, the kind of petite, blonde-haired dewy-eyed type, and she's as shy as Cara. Cara, Lisa and I were odd friends. I mean, Cara was as timid as a mouse and Lisa was always blushing when someone even looked at her I, on the other hand, was the slightly chubby red head who didn't give a shit if people thought she was annoying. You were going to hear her answer or opinion whether you liked it or not.

Thinking about them depresses me and when I think of them I think of Darren Andrews. I liked him so much, he was a year above me and completely drool worthy. I thought dating him would be the pinnacle of my existence.

_He's not as good looking as Will... _Taunts a little voice in my head.

I shake it off, becoming depressed again.

"Hey, you okay, Emerald?" Sky looks to me, her brows furrowed in worry.

I blink and then slide a fake smile on my face. "Sure."

"Who's the boy?" Phee asks. I startle and look to her, she raises a dark eyebrow. "And what has he got to do with Will?"

I grit my teeth and Sky sucks in a breath.

"The _change_ in your colour when Phee said "Will" was..." She trails off and I look back to her, glaring. She looks around me, her eyes slightly glazed over.

"Woah." She murmurs, then she turns to Phee. "Don't screw with her, she looks as if she's about to explode."

"I am not!" I shout, but she looks to me and raises an eyebrow, I sigh, leaning back in my chair.

"Ju-just stop with the questions." I sigh again. "The boy... he was a boy I liked back in school. Darren Andrews. Everyone liked him, I never stood a chance."

"Why not?" Sky pops out. "You're gorgeous. Your hair is amazing." I feel her run her fingers through a few locks of it. "It's like... amazing."

"Yeah." I give a mirthless laugh. "Picture me four inches shorter and wider and add on some chipmunk cheeks, then you'll get what I looked like."

"So you were..." Phee trails off awkwardly, not wanting to say it.

"Fat?" I open my eyes and nod, smirking. "Yeah. Luckily I was kidnapped. That sorted me right out. Now I can see my rib cage and my boobs are non-existent."

"Whose boobs are non-existent?" Xav asks with a grin as he waltzes in.

"Yours, dumbass." I growl.

He puts a hand to his heart in mock pain as he opens the fridge. "Oh, you wound me." He then looks at my chest. "But I could always check and make sure..."

I scowl at him right as Crystal walks in. She looks from me to Xav and sighs, going over to her soulfinder and punching him in the arm. He hisses and grabs his shoulder, frowning at her.

"What was that for?" He asks, looking hurt.

She shrugs. "The girls looked as if you needed it, I was just doing what the people wanted." She smiles at him and he rolls his eyes as he wraps his arms around her waist, she turns in them and he brings her back to his chest, resting his chin on her head.

"Don't worry, Emerald, I won't touch you." Xav says with a wicked grin. "Not only because I have my very own beautiful, wonderful soulfinder right here in my arms." Crystal blushes, but doesn't object. "But because I think Will might be attached to you."

"Will?" Crystal asks, staring at me in confusion.

A moment of silent ensues as I feel like someone with a baseball bat is drumming at the walls around my mind.

_Drum._

_Drum._

_DRUM!_

"STOP!" I scream, putting my hands to my ears.

Crystal's eyes widen in shock as two minutes later I slowly put my hands down, a headache forming at my temples.

"I-I'm sorry." She stutters out, but I sigh, shaking my head.

"Don't bother." I mutter, feeling suddenly bone-tired. I'm sick of this place and these people. I want to go home. To Australia. I want to surf and feel the sand beneath my toes and the brine in the air and the water through my hair.

I want my parents too.

Crystal nibbles on her lips and then looks to me, looking as if she's about to ask me something difficult, but then she just blurts it out.

"Have you ever been to Amsterdam?"

_What is it with this girl and Amsterdam?_

I remember her asking me if I lived there the first time I met her, but that was a different question.

"Yeah. Once. Why?"

Crystal goes shock-still, Xav too, eyes widening.

"What's wrong?" I ask, but I'm too tired and bored to really care.

"N-nothing." Crystal stutters, grabbing Xav's hand and yanking him out of there.

I feel the tingle of telepathy and know that Sky and Phee are being told something by Xav or Crystal, but I couldn't care. I push my plate away and rest my head on my arms, closing my eyes. I hate how jealous I feel when I see happy soulfinders together. And I hate the little voice that tells me I could be that happy with Will.


	25. Chapter 25 Will

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_******Here ya go! Chapter 25. A little thing, but I think you need to know how Will is feeling all about this whole thing. My next chapter should be up tomorrow, and it's kind of a chapter I've been working toward. Also, if you want to know, I got the idea for this story by a cover of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" by Lissie. So check that out if you want. There was just something kind of... I don't know... Emerald about it.**_

_**Hope you enjoy! **_

_**Will**_

There's something going on.

I have no idea what.

But it's definitely happening.

Whenever I walk into a room filled with my family they stop their conversations, glance at me, and then start talking about something completely different then what they were previously talking about. Now, I may not know what they were previously talking about, but I know it's different then what they started talking about after I arrived.

I'm not making any sense, am I?

You have no idea how deep my thoughts have been getting lately. Like, seriously. I look outside and I stare at a tree and I start to think how old the tree is and what kind of life journey it must of went on to get to where it is now. Who planted it, how many people have climbed, that kind of thing.

Like, what the hell?!

I am going insane.

Also, my heart is starting to hurt, and that isn't normal. I get this pang, sometimes. Like, I'm reaching up to get the cereal box to pour myself a bowl and then I'm clutching my chest, gasping in pain as it feels as if my heart is being wrung out. Like somebody is starting to beat the crap out of it. And I'll stand there, for a good five minutes, before the pain eases and I can breathe properly again. Nobody has been there to witness it, thank God. The first time, I thought I was having a heart attack. I was freaking out.

It's not normal and I know Emerald is the reason.

It's because she's my soulfinder.

And she is _so_ close. So goddamn close, but I can't touch her, and it's killing me. And if I keep getting these heart aches, I think I might _actually _die.

Having my soulfinder sleeping on the same floor as me and yet I'm not allowed to burst into her room and hold her in my arms...?

I'm not even ashamed to say that I've shed a few tears over this goddamn arrangement.

Of course, the heartless bitch hasn't even bat an eye over our situation. She couldn't even give a shit. I could be lying dead on the floor and she'd probably spit on me.

Is it normal to hate your soulfinder so passionately?

I must look like a lost puppy all the time, because my parents keep voicing their concerns. Whatever is up with my siblings and their soulfinders, they don't seem to be in on it.

It's been two weeks now since we found out, and I really just want to go back to college and get far away from her. Maybe the farther I get, the less my heart will hurt. Though I know that's not true. That's not how it works. I need to be with her. The urge is stifling, and I hate it. I never thought having a soulfinder would be like this. So...

torturous.

I head down the stairs at mid-morning, just waking up. I don't hear the usual bustle of my family, which would mean my parents are off shopping, Victor's at work, Uriel's holed up studying for some unknown test, and my other brothers and their soulfinders are off gallivanting.

I don't realise I forgot to question where Emerald was before I walk into the kitchen with only boxers on and hair mussed up from sleep.

I walk in, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and yawning when I hear a voice swear.

My eyes spring open and I see Emerald, her hand frozen to her mouth as her toast drops from her hand.

I get that pang in my heart, but I'm used to it so I just wince. I look at her for the first time in two weeks, really taking her in and by God, do I realise how beautiful she really is.

Her once thin, sharp features are softer now. Her skin is less pale as Dad has let her go to the forest as long as one of the boys are with her – usually Xav or Uriel -. She has about a thousand freckles now and her skin is a little tanned, giving her a slightly healthy glow. She's still pretty damn pale and a little sickly looking but she looks... beautiful. Her eyes are a bright green, like two large emeralds. Her hair is in red waves down her back and her cupid-bow like lips are a pale pink.

I remember how those lips felt on mine.

Shit.

Without her...

I am so screwed.


	26. Chapter 26 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_******Here you go! Just as promised. Expect an update on Saturday at the latest. I'm sorry, but I have school and things to do, so sorry.  
**_

_**Hope you enjoy!  
**_

_**Emerald**_

_Do not look at his crotch, do not look at his crotch, do _not_ look at his crotch._

My virginity is really weighing heavily on me this morning.

The fact that I've never even kissed a boy before – due to, ahem, excess weight when I was younger – let alone looked at a... Jesus, I'm sorry, but I need a moment.

Who the _hell_ has abs like that outside of super hot Hollister models?! His chest is all tanned and defined, I think he's got... an eight-pack? What?! I don't know, I can't even count. Everything is all hazy and blurry and...

Holy shit am I starting to cry again?

We both just stare at each other as my mind screams:

_HOLY CRAP THE UNIVERSE WANTS YOU TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WITH THIS BOY!_

When will I wake up?

The way Will is staring at me... like I'm beautiful. Like... like I'm the most beautiful thing he's ever seen before. He looks at me with such reverence, and holiness that I almost leap across the table and tell him to screw the arrangement, we're soulfinders!

Almost.

Instead, I pick my piece of toast back up and bite into it, saying around it:

"Put on a T-shirt, man-whore."

The look of reverence is quickly wiped away to reveal a very pissed off Hollister model.

* * *

**oo00oo00oo**

Basketball?

Basketball.

Um... no thanks.

But Sky insists, all the Benedicts do.

Which is why, the afternoon after the "Toast Incident" - as I like to call it – happened, I'm standing in the Benedicts driveway in shorts and a T-shirt as Sky volunteers Will and me to pick teams.

What the hell have I signed up for?

I ignore Will as I make my way to the top of the drive and survey everyone in front of me.

Trace, Diamond, Uriel, Victor, Xav, Crystal, Yves, Phee, Zed and Sky.

"Six a side, people!" Xav claps his hands and points at me. "Start picking, sweetheart."

I roll my eyes. "Fine, I pick you."

Xav looks pleasantly surprised. He gives Crystal a peck on the cheek and bounces towards me.

"We're gonna win, baby!" He hollers, giving me a high-five. Really, I'm dreading this. I'm still not fit. Too much movement and I spew.

It's not pretty.

Will picks Sky for some unknown reason, and I pick Zed. Having this huge urge to win, I don't care if we hate each other. He seems to have some bet going with Sky to see who'll win, so he whispers into my ear who I need to pick to win.

In the end, my team consists of me, Xav, Zed, Crystal, Trace and Phee. Will has Diamond, Uriel, Victor, Yves and Sky.

I am so going to win.

The game starts with Sky getting the ball and dribbling it about four steps before Xav zooms in and takes it off her. Dribbling it a little before throwing it and getting a basket.

Emerald - 1. Will – 0

I feel as if this game is reflecting more on our current situation than our actual basketball skills. Which basically means, in real life, I kick Will's ass.

_And it's a very nice ass... _Sings a little voice in my head.

_Go kill yourself._

_I'm you._

_Well... shit._

Luckily I'm brought out of my mental arguments by Diamond dribbling the ball. She might be a very sweet person, but she's a terrible sportsman. I quickly get the ball off of her and dodge people, dribbling it down the driveway and to the net. Until, of course, a huge wall of skin and possibly an eight-pack – still not really sure – stops me.

I pause, still bouncing the ball as I stare at Will. His dark curls sticking to his face with sweat as the day is sticky with heat. He stares at me, not even focusing on the ball. Just on me.

"What are you gonna do, Emerald?" He says, his voice a little out of breath.

I'm still not fit, so I'm practically gasping. Whatever about being fat when I was a kid, I was still on the track team, so I could run. But now I can't do anything.

Will is talking about other things, I know he is. He's talking about us, isn't he? He's getting pretty deep, can I not just play a game of basketball without him getting all emotional on me?

I shake my head at him and dribble around him, leaping with the ball and hooting as it goes in, giving Phee a high-five. Phee turns to Yves.

"You're going _down_, babe!" She grins and he slides his glasses up the bridge of his nose, staring down at her.

"Only if you come with me, doll." He says, doing a perfect impression of Xav.

"Okay, okay!" Hollers Victor, seemingly irritated. "Stop this soulfinder flirting and lets play. I'll be leaving for work soon." We all agree and soon, an hour later, the scores show Emerald – 24. Will – 20.

It's first one to twenty-five. So as I speed towards the net on the far end of the court, I know I can make it. I can make it!

That is, until, I tumble to my knees, the ball skidding away as I start retching, coughing and gagging.

Then I start puking.

In a flash Sky is by my side, putting a bowl under my mouth so I vomit into it and holding my hair back as my whole body heaves and gasps as my stomach contents fill up the bowl. My body shakes like a taut bow-string, my body and arms quaking as I close my eyes, heaving again.

I carry on for a good five minutes as Sky gently rubs my back, murmuring calming words into my ear and holding my hair back. Xav is by my side, touching my arm and flowing cool, soothing energy into me until my stomach finally settles and I'm left dry-heaving for a moment or two before I sit back on my heels and I close my mouth, swallowing painfully and swiping away angry tears.

_I just want to be better._

Sky lets go of my hair and pulls me to her, hugging me. I remember what my mom used to say:

"Only real friends hold your hair back when you throw up."

So does that mean that Sky's my real friend? A true friend?

I pull away from Sky and look to Will. He stands behind his brothers who murmur sympathetically. He looks so worried. Like he wants to run to me and sweep me up into my arms, but he can't. He looks like he wants to comfort me and make me better and make sure that I'm alright, but he can't.

Because I told him not to.

I wish I hadn't.


	27. Chapter 27 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Sorry for the late update, I was out yesterday. Here you go, and it's slightly steamy, so be prepared, it's not for the faint hearted. I now update on weekends, and during holidays every few days. If I keep going like this, I'll probably have this done by Christmas, or at least the February mid-term.**

**Thank you all for your amazing reviews, and keep them coming.  
**

**Please don't forget to follow and, most importantly, favourite!  
**

**Hope you enjoy! :)  
**

_**Emerald**_

"_Will?" I call out and then his form manifests in front of me and he wraps his big, strong arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. He grins down at me, dark blue eyes dancing._

"_Emerald." His voice echoes weirdly, leaving me confused._

_Where am I?_

_I don't have a chance to think because Will dips his head down, his lips searching for mine and finding them. I gasp slightly, trying to pull back, but his arms prevent that. His tongue parts my lips until he deepens the kiss._

I don't want this..._ I think, unsure of what's happening, what has taken over Will._

"_Will." I say, into his lips. He doesn't stop, just moves his lips to my chin and then down my neck._

"_Will!" I gasp in shock. Holy crap, what is he doing?!_

"_I-I told you I-I didn... didn't wan..." My tongue feels like lead as I lean my head back, letting him trail more kisses up and down my neck._

"_Will." I say breathlessly._

_Oh my God, is this it? Will I lose my virginity? Right now? With my soulfinder?_

_I don't realise I've accepted him being my soulfinder until later, when this amazing kissing st-_

"_Will." I moan and he breaks away, grinning at me. I look up at him, brows furrowed as he comes back and kisses me on the lips. He moves his hands up my body and under my shirt, resting on the small of my back._

_I break away for a breather. "Wow, Will." I murmur, pleasantly surprised. He smiles at me..._

_And then he vanishes._

_I blink, searching around for him, until I realise I'm in the blackness. There's nothing, no one._

"_Will?" I call out, trying to move but realising I'm stuck._

_What's happening?_

"_Will?!" I shout, but he's no where, he's gone._

_Where did he go?_

_Why did he leave?_

"_WILL?!" I shriek, until the blackness consumes me._

* * *

**oo00oo00oo**

My eyes snap open as my chest heaves with jagged breaths. My body and clothes are soaked in sweat as I search my surroundings.

It's dark, it's dark, it's dark.

Am I back in the blackness?

I shake my head at the absurdity as I realise that I'm in the Benedict's house and the light is just turned off and that I was dreaming.

_Just dreaming..._

"You talk in your sleep." I jump with a small cry as I hear the voice. The light switches on and I see Zed Benedict leaning against my closed bedroom door. Only wearing sweatpants, his chest is bare. He has his arms folded over his chest and his hair is mussed up from sleep.

"Wha-what the hell?!" I croak out, glaring at him.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Will about your sexy dream involving him, but I'd really appreciate it if you didn't broadcast it into my head."

To hide my flush of embarrassment I smirk. "Why? Am I interrupting your dream of Sky?" I sneer.

His cheeks tinge pink, but he keeps his scowl. "No, I just don't like the thought of a murderer having creepy dreams involving my brother."

I scowl right back at him. "I'm not a murderer."

"Yeah, if anyone is, it's me." We hear a voice say from the other side of the door, and then it's pushed open. Revealing Will in just his boxers.

_Sweet Jesus, do these boys not have any clothes?_

It is getting way too hot in here.

Will scowls at his younger brother. "Get lost, douche bag. I need to talk to Emerald."

Zed glares right back at him. "You're not a murderer."

"I shot a guy, Zed. I shot him dead, that makes me a murderer. At least Emerald hasn't killed anyone."

Zed rolls his eyes, stalking out of the room, but Will and I both hear him say:

"Yet." As he leaves.

Will scowls at the closing door. "That guy is a total asshole."

"He's your brother."

It's as if he's just remembered I'm here. He turns around and smiles shyly at me, his whole demeanor changing.

"What's wrong?" I ask, curtly. Hoping my burning cheeks aren't too noticeable. "Why are you here?"

He shifts nervously. "I couldn't sleep."

Butterflies erupt in my stomach, my mouth going instantly dry. "And?" I say in a broken whisper.

"Well... I-I was wondering if I could sleep here tonight. With you." He stutters.

_Sleep with me?!_

No. This is dangerous. If I do this, I'll be letting him in. And letting anyone in is never good. It's never a good thing. I should tell him to go back to his own bed. That I'll probably have to leave soon, the Savant Net probably need me for something, so there's no point in us becoming close. Becoming a couple. No matter how much I wish we could. I need to tell him to leave me alone. To forget about me and move on to some normal girl who can give him everything and make him smile, because I can't do that. All I bring is heart break. I should tell him to piss off, that I had enough murderers in my life, and I don't need another one, because I can see, clearly, on his face, how much he regrets killing. He's obviously not a proper murderer, it must've been accidental, or in self-defence. I need him to go. He should go. It's what's best for him. It. Is. What. Is. Best. For. Him.

But I'm a selfish bitch.

So I say:

"Okay."

_**Author's Note:**_

_****_**Click the favourite button, it won't hurt anyone, and the more favourites and reviews I get, the more I write. :)**


	28. Chapter 28 Will

_******Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Thank you all so much for your favourites and beautiful comments. You're all amazing and deserve a soulfinder! New update on Saturday or Sunday.**

**This one is a little short, but very important because everyone needs to know how Will feels about... well... Emerald.  
**

**Yeah... it isn't a very nice chapter.  
**

**Hope you enjoy! :)  
**

_**Will**_

I have to say, I'm completely shocked that she agreed, but I'm not complaining.

I am currently spooning my soulfinder.

And yet I'm not allowed to kiss her or touch her like I want to.

I didn't know this would be worse than sleeping alone.

"Are you awake?" I whisper.

"No." She grumbles, scooting away from me.

I take a deep breath. Sick of tip-toeing over the topic. I need to know the answer. "How can you do it? Is it not killing you?"

"Is what not killing me?" She pretends not to know, but she's not an idiot, she must have at least a clue as to what I'm talking about.

"Being away from me." I say sulkily.

She gives a mirthless laugh. "Don't flatter yourself, mate. You're not that good-looking."

_Lies. I'm hot._

Fed up I wind my arms around her waist and pull her back to me. Her back to my chest.

She stiffens. "What are you doing?"

I nuzzle her neck, her red hair tickling me. "Spending time with my beloved soulfinder, what do you think?" I breathe in her sweet scent. Not sure what she smells like, but loving it nevertheless.

I feel her heartbeat pick up. "Don't." She says, but she's breathless, so I just grin and stay exactly where I am.

My body practically wrapped around hers.

"Why are you doing this?" I hear her pained whisper.

"Because all my life I have waited for the perfect girl. My perfect girl. All my life I have dreamed of what she will be like, and how I'll react to her. All my life I've wanted to find her, to spend the rest of my life with her in blissful ignorance to the rest of the world because we're together, so everyone else can go screw themselves. All my life I have waited for the perfect girl to make me laugh, smile and fall in love with." I whisper truthfully into her ear.

"I'm not that girl." She says in a broken whisper, her voice breaking.

I pull her closer to me.

"I know." I state simply "I hate you. We are so different and we don't get along at all. I find you pig-headed and ignorant and scary and unpredictable and you are screwing up everything that I have ever wished for. All my dreams? Yeah, you're smashing them all up, because every single one of them had my beautiful soulfinder in it who had hair just like yours, except when I look at you all I can picture is you being covered in blood. Your hair is too dark to be the red I pictured my gorgeous soulfinder having. You have ruined everything, my whole future."

I hear her start to grind her teeth.

"Then why are you here?!" She demands.

I chuckle into her ear.

"Because you're my soulfinder and I can't stay away. Face it, love, we're stuck together for ever. I'm the best you're going to get and, unfortunately, I have to get you. Obviously I was Judas or Hitler in a previous life to be reincarnated with a soulfinder like you." I say bitterly.

"Wow, Will. You really know how to make a girl feel special."

I sigh into her neck. "My job is not to make you feel special, it's to love you."

"And how's that working out for you?"

"I'm working on it."


	29. Chapter 29 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Sorry that I didn't update last weekend. There was a rugby match (Ireland vs Argentina) that I went to (we won. Woo! Go Ireland) so I was busy. So sorry.**

**I'm not very happy with this chapter, but I guess you need to know how Emerald feels...  
**

**Hope you Enjoy!:)  
**

_**Emerald**_

I didn't expect his comments to hurt so much, but they do. I suck my teeth to stop the tears from leaking out of my swimming eyes, but everything is going blurry and I know it's only a matter of time before the dickhead behind me sees me crying.

_Again_.

"You're a bastard, you know that?" I whisper, my voice not strong enough to say anything louder.

I hear a self-mocking laugh. "I know, baby, I know."

"Don't you call me "baby"." I hiss at him, gritting my teeth as the tears start to run down my cheeks. "You think you're the only one who dreamed of their soulfinder in this relationship?" I give a watered-down laugh. "Oh, sweetheart, all I've wanted since I was a little girl is for my knight-in-shining-armor to pick me up and take me away." I quickly wipe my cheeks. "Do you know how many nights when I was locked away that I screamed for you?! How, for the first few weeks in there, I barely slept because I was afraid that if I went to sleep I'd miss you coming to rescue me? That you'd call out for your soulfinder – me – and some other girl in there would say "yes" and you'd take her away instead of me."

I take a deep breath.

"And you think it's okay for you to tell me that I'm ruining your future? At least you have a future and a family and friends. My friends are all grown up, all of them thinking I'm dead. My parents are _actually_ dead and what am I supposed to do for the rest of my life? I can't go to college, I have no money, no house or car or any kind of education. Hell, in the eyes of the world I'm _dead_."

I cross my arms over my chest and glare at the wall.

"So don't think for a second that you can guilt trip me into changing myself or into pitying you, because it's not going to work."

I finish my little tirade, scowling at nothing in particular and clenching my jaw.

I wait for him to answer.

To make a snarky retort.

To at least grunt in annoyance.

But when I turn around in his arms, to face him, I realise why he isn't doing any of those things.

The bastard has fallen asleep.

And instead of punching him or using my power to fling him against the wall, crushing his windpipe and killing him, I wind my arms around his body and pull myself towards him. I rest my head against his chest and entangle my legs with his. He makes a happy sound in his unconscious state and his grip on my waist tightens until he's squeezing me against him.

I guess I'm going soft.

Now that I'm out, and my dad is no longer around, I don't need to be bad anymore.

But I swear to God, Will Benedict is going to drive me back to it.


	30. Chapter 30 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Thank you for your patient waiting, you guys are great!**

**Christmas holidays are soon, so I'll give loads of updates then and hopefully finish it to get on to my new "Benedict Brothers" fanfic.  
**

**Please review, follow and favourite.  
**

**Hope you enjoy!  
**

_**Emerald**_

I swear Sky is trying to fix me up with Will. Her and her bloody soulfinder have been "accidentally" leaving Will and I alone, or directing us into an empty room only for the other one of us to come in. For Gods sakes, it's gone so far as to Will being told to go into the bathroom while I'm showering.

Maybe I shoulder tell Sky that the universe has already set us up.

I bang my head against the table. It's been a week since I slept with Will.

I groan aloud.

_No_, I didn't sleep with him.

Well... okay, I did. But we _just_ slept.

That's all.

I lick my cracked lips and lift my head up. On a lighter note, I think the Benedicts are curing me. Minus their asshole son, I feel a lot better. I've gained a bit, thank God, and I feel more... grounded.

I always felt... weird. Backwards. Everything was different for me. Instead of being normal I was a savant. Instead of being thin I was fat. Instead of being brunette like my parents, I was red.

And instead of loving the bad boy, I'm meant to be with the good one.

I always hate the ones I'm supposed to love, and love the ones I'm supposed to hate.

Like my dad.

He was murderer. Easy to hate him. Common sense really.

But what do I do?

Unconditional love.

Then there's Will.

Nice, funny, relaxed, so laid-back he's almost horizontal and definitely the most handsome guy you will ever meet in your life.

Yeah, real easy to hate him.

All I see are his flaws, why can't I look past them? I need to love him.

I _want_ to love him.

But I can't and it's so... it's so...

I grit my teeth, giving a snarl and standing up, knocking my chair to the ground. My hands fly to my hair and I start tugging on it.

"Why is this so Goddamn _hard_?!"

"Because you care."

I jump and spin around at the voice. Zed Benedict leans against the kitchen door frame, staring coolly at me.

"What do you want?!" I growl at him, glaring.

He gives me a bland smile. "Just wanted to know if Little Miss Sunshine wanted some advice?" He bites out sarcastically.

I narrow my eyes at him, folding my arms over my chest – which is filling out nicely, just in case you wanted to know - . "I don't need advice from a kid, thanks."

He smiles. "A kid who has everything you've ever wanted."

I grit my teeth. "I don't know what you're talking about." I lie.

He takes a step closer, stalking towards me like a predator with his prey.

"I think you do, Emerald." He smirks. "You're open for anyone to read you."

I freeze.

"Wh-what?!"

"All you wanted was a soulfinder." He ignores my question. "All you dreamed about was a soulfinder. You wanted to be normal, but knew that if you were you'd never have _him_. So you put up with your loopy mother and your killer father 'cause you knew you'd have him one day." He stops in front of me. "But you never thought that you'd be kidnapped. That you'd be afraid of being locked into a room. That after you wouldn't trust anyone with your secrets or yourself or your heart." He leans into me. "_Especially_ your soulfinder."

I shove him away. "Piss off, Zed. You don't know anything."

He snorts, glaring at me. "Don't you understand?! That's the problem! I know _everything_. Everything about you is now swirling around my head because those big ass walls of yours came crumbling down." He stalks back towards me.

"He's my _brother_, Emerald." And then his demeanor changes, and he looks to me, pleadingly. "I will do _anything_. Please. _Leave him alone_."

"Zed!"

We both turn to see Will standing in the doorway, eye wide with anger as he glares at his little brother. Will stalks over and rips Zed away from me, but Zed doesn't even fight it.

"Don't do it, man." Zed pleads.

"Shut up." Will hisses. "I helped you with your soulfinder. I didn't try to warn _her_ off. I should've though. Look what happened to her. Kidnapped, mind molested an-"

"But we saved her! Helped her." Zed argues.

"_Yes_." Growls Will and then his dark blue eyes find me. "And we're gonna do the same for Emerald."

He shoves Zed away from him and Zed stalks out, slamming the kitchen door shut.

I lick my lips and look away. I can't look at him and think at the same time, it just doesn't work.

"So, you told your whole family, huh?" I ask dryly.

"Oh, shut up, Emerald."

My head flies up at the flippant tone.

"How dare yo-"

His lips crash against mine before another word leaves my lips. More likely something that I will regret.


	31. Chapter 31 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**So you all asked me to update soon because I left you on a cliff hanger and I am shocked at how invested some of you seem to be in this story. It really makes me happy and keep up all the amazing comments because, LOOK, they got you a really, really early update! ;)**

**Expect another update this weekend.  
**

**Hope you Enjoy! :)  
**

_**Emerald**_

I pull away and it's like ripping off my right arm. It is more painful than it should be and I feel as if a piece of me is missing when we stop.

Will puts his forehead against mine with a groan. My hands are clenched up in his shirt and his are lost in my hair.

"God, I hate you." He breathes.

"You can't jus... you ca-can't just go aro-around k-kissing people..." I stutter, but I can't concentrate with him so close. I can count the freckles on his face, I can see each single eyelash he has and just how deep and dark his eyes are. His scent is wrapping around me, bringing me into a hug.

A hug from my soulfinder.

_Why_ am I trying to fight this?

Will and I are perfect for each other.

And he is so perfect. He's happy, funny, gorgeou-

"Hey, Emerald?" He whispers against my lips, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yes?" I murmur, my eyes heavy-lidded. I want him to kiss me again.

"Remember when my brother said your walls had come crumbling down?"

"Uh-huh." Wow, who knew a guy could have so many eyelashes?

"Well, you're doing it now."

And just like that I've snapped out of my lust-filled haze and I've jumped back, away from him. My cheeks catch fire and my hands fly to my mouth.

_Up, up, UP!_

It's like the sound of hundreds of steel doors closing.

_Boom._

_Boom._

_BOOM!_

The walls are up, and I feel isolated.

Alone.

God, I hate being a savant.

Will winces, shaking his head. "Wow, that hurt."

"Hurt? It hurt you?" I ask, concerned for some unfathomable reason.

"Yeah." He gives me a startlingly lopsided grin. His face alight. "We're connected so... yep, it hurt."

I grimace. "I'm sorry."

Wow, did I just apologise to Will Benedict?

I am going soft, I am going soft, I am going soft.

He grins. "Yeah, you are."

I freeze. "I thought they were up!" I exclaim, and for some reason I start patting my head, as if I can manually fix the walls.

I am also becoming stupid.

Though, I'm not sure if that's something you become...

Will laughs, the sound booming and joyful and bouncing off the walls, making me fight off a smile.

"Yeah, don't worry, they're up all right. Pretty thick as well, if you ask me."

"Then how did you know what I was thinking?"

Will gives me a wicked grin. "It was all over your face, hon."

"Really?" I cock a hip. "I find that unbelievable."

"Oh yeah," He nods vigorously. "It's like... I dunno, I can just tell what you're thinking. I don't hear thoughts or stuff, I'm not like Zed. I can just read your facial expressions."

"Wow." I murmur, shocked. "You know me well, don't you?"

He nibbles on his lip, suddenly nervous and I feel nervous as well.

"Yeah." He agrees.

I shove my hands in my jeans pockets. "Well, we should probably... um, do something."

"What? Like, together?"

"No!" I blush. "I mean, um, no."

"Oh... so you don't want t-"

"No, I do!" I exclaim.

_Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!_ My mind screams.

Will smirks. "Alright. Come out with me."

"What?!" OH. MY. GOD. "L-like on a date?" My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth.

He shakes his head. "No. I still hate you. Just... out. For a walk. You haven't explored the mountains yet, have you?"

I shake my head.

He gives me a slow smile, his eyes darkening. He holds out his hand, and I know it's a decision. A monumental one.

"Then let's go."

I stare at his hand.

Will I or won't I?

If I do, I'm leading him on. Doing something I may or may not want to do.

If I don't... we're ruined.

I will have no soulfinder.

Well, I will, but he'll hate me even more.

So... do I take his hand, or do I walk away?

I slip my hand through his and give him a nervous smile.

"Yeah, let's go."


	32. Chapter 32 Emerald

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Sorry for the random update, but I needed to get this out A.S.A.P.**

**Though I doubt you mind that much :)  
**

**Please R&R and expect an update this weekend.  
**

**Hope you Enjoy! :)  
**

_**Emerald**_

"I want you to tell me everything about you." Will says as I look down the huge mountain we seem to be on. A sheer drop of terror and death awaits us. But the trees are tall and green and beautiful and the grass is soft and everything seems so... clear.

I never realised how fuzzy life was before Will came.

His words startle me out of our comfortable silence. We haven't spoken since we left and we dropped hands soon after. We stand at the top of the mountain, hands in pockets and hair swishing in the wind.

I shrug. "You know everything about me. Doesn't your family have a file on the people they murder? Look me up, I'm under Robert Savage. I'm sure you have his back story, right?"

Will lets the sarcastic comment slide and turns to look at me, blocking his face with his hand from the sun.

"All I know is that you're alone and your dad was a bad man. Tell me about _you_."

I look away, licking my lips. "What do you want to know?"

"What's your favourite colour?"

I smirk at the mediocrity of the question. I look at him, my hair flying around my face. "Green."

"Because of your eyes?"

I shrug. "Yeah and... I don't know. Green just makes me happy, you know? It's a cheerful colour."

He nods. "Makes sense. Mine is blue."

"Like your eyes?"

"Ah," He grins. "You've noticed."

I just give him a small smile.

He walks over and sits on a fallen tree trunk and after a moment of hesitation I follow him.

I sit beside him.

But not too close.

"What did you want to be when you were a kid?"

I nibble on my lip, searching for the memory and I smile once I get it. "A mafia lord. Or drug lord. I wasn't picky."

He chuckles, a sound that makes me happy. He holds his stomach as he laughs and then looks at my smiling face.

"Why were you laughing?" I ask, slightly affronted.

"Because that's a great job! Really original."

"What did you want to be?"

"A cop." He shrugs. "I wasn't an original kind of kid. Seems boring compared to your aspirations, but Trace wanted to be a cop as well, and I always looked up to him. But why did you want to become a mafia lord?"

I shrug. "I don't even know if mafia lord is the right terminology. Mobster? Is that the word? I don't know. Anyway, I wanted to be a mafia lord because it was... well, it was what my dad kind of was. He had people around him constantly, for protection. And I thought: "How nice is that?". He was never alone and was always surrounded by friends. Sure, you have to kill people and stuff, but the blood wouldn't technically be on _your_ hands, because you just ordered the hit. Someone else actually did it." I look at the bright blue sky, watching as the clouds drift across it. "Maybe, someone else in my situation would've become a cop, like you wanted to be. You know, they wanted to catch bad people like my dad because they had grown up with a mafia lord as a dad, so they knew how they think."

Will leans into me. "You'd probably be a good cop. Like an inside person with all your information about your dad."

I snort. "I lived with my dad for years, and I know about as much as you do about him. Hell, you probably know more than I do."

The thought makes me sad, but I quickly pack it away for something I can think about later.

Another silence takes hold of us then, a silence that's slightly uncomfortable, and I shift on the log.

"So..." Will drawls. "Have any boyfriends?"

I look to him with raised eyebrows. "What? Now? Yeah, Will." I say sarcastically and with an eye roll. "About seven all over the world. There's Paolo in Spain, Josè in Mexico, Stefano in Italy, Sean in Ireland, Kyle in Australia, Vincent in France and Manford in Germany."

"_Manford_?" He asks, incredulous. "Where did you get that name from?"

I shrug.

"And only seven? Wow, I've got eleven."

"What? Eleven boyfriends?"

He scowls at me. "Girlfriends."

"Good." I say. "It'd be just my luck to get a gay soulfinder. Hey! Are there such things as gay savants?"

Will shrugs and then grins at me. "Let's ask Uriel."

We laugh at that and I realise how easy and nice it is to joke around and be comfortable with him.

Our chuckles quieten and I watch as Will looks out across the expanse of green mountains.

"What are we going to do, Emerald?"

"About what?"

"Us." He shrugs. "Everything. Do you... do you even want to try? Do you want to be soulfinders?"

I swallow. "I don't think it's something you get to choose, Will. You feel it too. Our minds and bodies are already connected. They want us to be together."

"Then what's stopping us?"

I look at his handsome face, my eyes burning a hole in his.

"I don't know." I tell him honestly.

Because I really don't.


	33. Chapter 33 Will

_**Author's Note:  
**_

_****_**Sorry for the late update. I've just been having trouble because I'm leading up to a big chapter - nearing the end - and I'm just kind of bored with the chapters between now and then. But there will only be a few "filler" chapters like this one until the big story line.  
**

**And... I think it is big, because just like Joss Stirling does, there has to be something big to rip the soulfinders apart.  
**

**Mwhahahaha!  
**

**Hope you enjoy! :)**

_**Will**_

She really is beautiful.

I mean... just everything about her is...

Perfection.

I don't know why I hate her. I don't even know if I hate her anymore as well. I just feel... so tired. So tired of hating her. So tired of not having a soulfinder. So tired of the little pain I get in my chest when I see her sad, or even when I see her happy or laughing because of somebody _else._

I even hate when she's alone with Uriel.

She is my soulfinder and I am tired. I am very, very tired.

I am so tired of being alone.

I watch as she grabs some daisies and starts making a chain. Piercing the small, green stem with the long nail of her thumb and then poking another stem through it and doing the process all over again. I watch on with reverence as her nimble fingers set to work. She has this little eyebrow twitch thing as she frowns in concentration, her teeth nibbling on her bottom lip. A breeze comes then and she huffs in annoyance as she stops her creation to toss her long, red hair over her shoulder.

And before she can set back to work, and before I can help myself, I've scooted across the log to wrap my arms around her, squishing her close to me and crushing my lips against hers.

She yelps in surprise but then easily sinks into the kiss with more passion than me. Her hands wriggling out from my iron grip and locking around my neck. Running through my hair and winding and twisting in it. I moan against her lips an-

_Willy! Where are yooooooou? _Comes the singing telepathic voice of the idiot that is Xavier Benedict.

But I don't stop my kissing and I know Emerald felt the telepathy, but she doesn't even pause either.

I cup the back of her neck, deepening the kiss and I feel her eyelids flutter, her long lashes tickling me.

"Will..." She murmurs against my lips and I can't help but smile, which makes kissing a bit more difficult but I'm able to navigate my way t-

_CRUNCH!_

We break away, both of us looking at each other and then turning around to hear more footsteps. With my arms still locked around her I go to pull away. I turn back to see my stupid brothers with their stupid soulfinders.

Zed marches through with a grin.

"Who you callin' stupid, stupid?" He asks and then he pauses when he sees Emerald. He groans in frustration and rolls his eyes.

"Great! You brought _her_ along." He grunts and Sky punches him in the arm. He just looks down at her and smiles.

See, I could never understand that. If a girlfriend of mine punched me I'd be annoyed. Yet, it doesn't matter what Sky does to Zed. He just looks at her and smiles placidly, as if he's doped up on something. As if she's his very own weed. His drug.

But I understand now, because Emerald is my drug.

And I am _so_ high right now.


	34. Chapter 34 Emerald

**_Author's Note:_  
**

**__****I felt bad for being so late with the updates so here's a small chapter to say sorry.**

**Hope you enjoy! :)  
**

_**Emerald**_

His brothers are all there. Every single one of them. Even the grumpy guy, Victor. They all spill into the little clearing that Will brought me to and I can't help but blush and make sure my shields are extra strong so they don't know what we were just doing.

Though it doesn't take a genius to figure it out.

Red cheeks, swollen lips, Will's messy hair, my disheveled appearance, racing pulse, throbbing heart and a throat that won't stop swallowing.

Also, a heart that screams for Will.

But let's just over look that, shall we?

Will rolls his eyes at all his brothers as he stands up and they all start hugging him as if they haven't seen him in years, when they were all talking in the sitting room last night.

They are one weird family.

None of the girls come over to me for some reason. They just all give secret smiles to each other and then look at me so hard, for some reason I blush.

_What the heck?_

I'm pretty clueless as to what's going on as Will comes back over to me.

_What's up with your family? _I send telepathically to him and he shrugs at me.

_No idea. They're freaks._

I nod at the answer, seems sound enough.

But then Xavier steps forward, his hand entangled with Crystal's and I feel a pang in my heart as I realise how much I want that.

I want Will to hold my hand in public.

I want Will to smile with so much pride that he gets to spend the rest of his life with me.

I want Will to show me off to the world like Xavier does with Crystal, like he's so absolutely shocked that his soulfinder is _her_. Like he can't believe he was so lucky to get her.

I want that.

I want Will to be like that.

So when Xavier grins at us and wiggles his eyebrows, asking:

"So... what were you guys doing?"

I grab Will by the front of his T-shirt and crush my lips against his.

Because I am Emerald and he is Will.

Because we're soulfinders.

And because I'm in love.


	35. Chapter 35 Emerald

**_Author's Note:_  
**

**__****Sorry for taking so long with this but, really, I didn't even know how long it had been. Christmas has just seemed to take over the majority of my life it's seemed to span so long. Anyway, I'm back and expect updates every weekend.  
**

**Please don't forget to follow, favourite and review.  
**

**Hope you enjoy!:)  
**

**Emerald**

My hands run through his dark hair, my body pushing against his as he makes a sound of astonishment before grabbing me and crushing his body against mine, kissing me with as much ferocity as I'm kissing him.

Of course, I hear the gasps of shock and the chuff of disgust from Zed, but want I don't expect is Sky.

"I _knew_ it!" She exclaims and Will and I break apart from each other, breathing heavily and staring at each other. I turn back to his family, wiping my swollen lips.

Sky grins, throwing her arms in the air. "_Yes_!" Xavier sighs and roots in his pocket, pulling out a crumpled note of money and handing it to a smug Sky before grumbling grumpily. I watch with wide-eyes as most of Will's brother do that. Paying different girls with expressions of unfairness.

By the end of it the girls are counting their large sums of cash as the guys fold their arms over their chests, mumbling incoherently.

"We should've got you to pay for it, Yves, we all know you're loaded." Xav says, bumping shoulder with said brother who just shrugs and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Crystal steps forward, staring at me. "But... I'm still confused. Have you ever lived in Amsterdam?"

I shake my head.

"But... I saw mice and..." She gives Xav a panicked expression before he comes towards her, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing the top of her head.

"Don't worry, cupcake. You're still learning."

"But what if I've be doing it wrong for months!"

He hushes her, sweeping her into a hug that I'm sure makes her feel dainty and tiny even though she's about 6 foot. "Don't worry, Crystal. You've only told a few people. It's not as if there's many savants we know in New York."

"I could've ruined everything for them." She says with a groan, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"If it's any consolation," I say, clearing my throat. "The street I lived on was called Amsterdam Terrace and we had mice in my house for a few months." And as an after thought I remember: "Oh! And my parents got married in Amsterdam when I was three or something, so I've been there."

Xav sighs in relief, smiling at me gratefully as he pulls back from his soulfinder. "See? You didn't get it wrong at all. You were just a little _too_ specific. Let's try not to be as vague next time, okay?"

Crystal nods, turning around and looking slightly embarrassed. She looks around at everyone.

"Sorry." She says, flushing and her sister, Diamond, walks over, rubbing her back soothingly.

"So... wait." Phee says, stepping forward and looking at me. "Does that mean you're Will's soulfinder?"

"No!" Xav gasps sarcastically, rolling his eyes and causing Victor to snort before Crystal whacks him in the arm, glaring.

"You're not the sharpest pencil in the box are you?" Victor asks, receiving a glare from Yves.

"Shut up, Vic."

"Yeah," Uriel adds. "And who keeps pencils in a box?"

Victor just rolls his eyes and looks to me, his steel eyes burning into mine. "Just don't keep your hopes up for me welcoming you into this family with open arms, Savage."

I hear Will chuff in disgust from behind me, soon discovering that I'm now perched in his lap with his arms wrapped around me.

"Why don't you go straighten your hair, Beyonce, I don't want negative energy surrounding me. It screws up my feng shui."

Victor glares at his younger brother before stalking off.

Zed turns back to us, raising an eyebrow at my soulfinder. " "Beyonce"? Really? Where the hell did that come from, man?"

Will shrugs, lazily, no longer tense with the need to defend me. "He's got longer hair than she has and is about as sassy as she is too."

Diamond suddenly giggles and we all look towards her in Trace's arms. She looks at us all, chewing on her lip with embarrassment.

"What? Sassy is a funny word."

Trace grins down at her. "It is, is it? Well then, sassy, sassy, sassy." He says as he starts tickling her and she squeals, trying to run away from him but he catches her, spinning her around and bending down to capture her lips with his.

We all chuckle at the happy pair before we hear the choked back sob from the right, all of our heads snapping over to see a distraught looking Uriel. He quickly wipes his face, staring at Trace and Diamond who have broken apart.

"I-I'm sorry, I..." He trails off, looking lost before quickly sprinting off and into the forest.

"Crap." We hear Sky mutter and we all look over to stare at her. She looks up at Zed, twiddling the end of her plait.

"With everything going on with Emerald and Will and all the bets... I forgot to tell you how much worse he's getting."

Zed sighs, resting his forehead against Sky's. "We'll talk to him later." He murmurs to her before looking up to me, green eyes wary. "We have to tell Mom and Dad that Will's found his soulfinder first."

Groans chorus from everyone else, including my soulfinder but I just stare at them all, confused.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Oh, nothing." Yves mutters. "If you like being attacked by tiny Latino women."


	36. Chapter 36 Will

**_Author's Note:_  
**

**__****For all those who asked, there will be a story for Uriel. I think I'm going to call it Abandoning Rain? I don't know, I haven't decided on the girl's name yet, but I know the plot so I'm going to do that next.  
**

**Updates are every weekend, and don't forget to review, follow and favourite.  
**

**Hope you enjoy! :)  
**

**Will**

I'm feeling uncomfortable.

Something's changed in Emerald, and I'm not sure what it is. She just seems a lot more... _here_. If that makes any sense. Before, her hair would always cover her face and her eyes would always look slightly glassy, pupils a bit too big.

But now she's different.

As we walk back to my house, trailing behind my brothers, I notice how she runs her hand through her hair, hooking a lock behind her ear so her face is in full view. Her eyes are wide and bright, taking in everything around her, as if she's been asleep for years and now she's finally awake.

I want to ask her what's changed. Did I have a part in it? Is it good or bad? Is she happier like this?

But I remain silent, because she might go back to the way she was before if I say something, and she looks happy now.

More aware.

Her green eyes flicker over to me and she raises a red brow.

"What are you looking at, Will?" And I love the way my name rolls off her tongue in her accent. It sounds like she's saying "wheel" really fast and I grin at her, throwing my arm over her shoulder and bringing her closer to me, squeezing her against my hard body and I feel her shudder.

"Just your pretty little face, Emerald. So, you're prepared for the wrath of my mom?" I ask, quickly changing the subject and she shrugs.

"Your mom isn't who I'm worried about." And I nod, as I realise _she_ isn't the problem.

My dad is.

Dad sits in the armchair in the living room, sipping his coffee as he reads a broadsheet newspaper. His dark eyes flicker up as all of us pile into the living room and then he rolls them.

"Is there a reason why you're all in here? I didn't agree to a party or anything did I?" He raises a bushy brow. "I've been a little out of it these days." He blows out a breath, folding his newspaper up and unfolding his legs.

"What's up?"

I don't even have a chance to breathe, Xav – the little shit – beats me to it.

"Will's found his soulfinder!" He shouts, mouth open in a silent scream as he turns around and jumps up and down. Crystal laughs at his antics, clapping her hands and Phee rolls her eyes as Yves bumps Xav in the shoulder.

"Will was supposed to tell him, you dipstick." He mutters and Zed smacks Xav over the head.

Dad pauses, staring at us for a second before screaming: "Karla!" More for our benefit, than for him, considering they can just use telekinesis.

Mom comes bustling in, wiping her hands with a wash cloth, she looks around at us all as she pushes past us.

"Why is everyone here? Was there a party I agreed to? Because, I've been kind of ou-"

"Did you know Will found his soulfinder?" Dad asks, interrupting her and hopping up to sweep her into a hug.

Mom kisses his nose and then looks to me, her eyes dancing with joy.

"Of course not!" She says, grinning at me, a grin that looks oddly like both Xav's, Trace's and Zed's combined.

"Karla." Dad intones, and she looks up at him, rolling her eyes like a chastised child.

"Okay... so, I did see a certain red-head in the future, _but_," She says, running to her own rescue. "I'm never sure with these things, sweet cheeks." She says, tapping his cheeks and he frowns.

"You could've told me." He grumbles unhappily, and my mother lets out a tinkling laugh, spinning around.

"Hush, hon. You're being rude." She smiles, taking a step forward, towards me and my tall soulfinder. "We have a new member of the family to welcome."

Emerald's eyes widen as Mom rushes towards her.

"Oh, I.. um-" She's tackled by my mother, Karla wrapping her arms around her and holding her close, her head only coming to her chin and Emerald blushes, her white as snow skin colouring as she looks to me.

I just grin and fold my arms over my chest, hoping I'm not making a huge mistake by letting her into, not only my family, but my heart.

"Welcome to the family, Emerald Savage."

And she flinches as I say her last name.


	37. Chapter 37 Emerald

**Emerald**

"I guess you don't want company, do you?" I spin around at the voice, rolling my eyes when I realise it's Will. He grins at me, bounding in like a puppy and I fold my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling bare in just a tee and pajama shorts.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, making my way to my bed as he shuts the door and he sits beside me, the bed dipping with him.

"I don't like sleeping alone." He says with a shrug, and I snort.

It's been a week since I came to terms with Will being my soulfinder and I... I don't know, I thought something would happen. I thought he'd declare his love for me or we'd make passionate love in a meadow or something like that.

But nothing has happened.

We've kissed a little, but that's about it.

I've tried not to let it get to me, but seeing Will's brothers with their soulfinders is killing me. How they're all so cute with each other. How Zed drops kisses on Sky ever few minutes, how Yves winds his arm around Phee and pulls her in for a hug whenever they're near each other, how Xav offers Crystal a foot massage every evening for her to laugh it off and then for him to kiss her nose, retreating to their room for the night to do God knows what and how Trace tries to carry Diamond everywhere. Picking her up bridal-style and carrying her upstairs or over thresh-holds, causing his wife to squeal in protest.

Of course, I'm not the only one to notices this, and from the way Victor spends less and less time with his family and Uriel is up in his room studying nearly every hour of the day, I know not having a soulfinder is killing them.

But sometimes, when I'm alone and thinking about Will, I think having a soulfinder is so much harder.

I'm supposed to love him so much, and I think I do, but the thing is, I don't know _him_. I don't know if I love _him_, or if I just love the idea of him.

And that's a killer.

I sigh and shuffle back, getting under the covers of my bed and I feel my pulse quicken as Will mimics my actions, winding his arm around my waist and pulling me towards him, nuzzling his face in my hair.

"I think we're getting better, Emerald." He says, after a while of just staring off into space, neither of us able to sleep.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... I don't hate you anymore. I know it hasn't been that long, but everything's been happening so fast, and I've found out that I don't hate you."

"Well, that's... good." I say, after a moment of indecision.

"Yeah, it is." He replies, pulling me closer to him and I love the way he feels, his woody smell enveloping me and his heat cocooning me.

"I don't hate you either." I say after a moment.

But I think that's because I don't even know him.

* * *

_**oo00oo00oo**_

We all sit around the breakfast table, drowsily stuffing our faces as Saul leaves the table for a phone call. I'm so sleepy I lean my head on Will's shoulder, his automatic response being to drag my chair closer, wrapping an arm around my waist.

"You tired?" He whispers in my ear, and I nod.

"Sheesh guys, what were you doing last night?" Xav asks as Crystal tries to smooth out her bed-head.

"Probably the same thing you guys were doing." Phee interjects, biting into her toast. Xav looks at her, smirking.

"Don't act like a prude, Phee. You must've consummated the marriage."

That causes the whole table to gag, Karla clasping her hands to her ears.

"Oh God, please stop thinking Yves!" She exclaims and Zed starts banging his head against the table.

"Yves. Please. Stop." He begs, and Will and Xav guffaw at Yves' pink cheeks and Phee's red face.

I laugh along with them, Karla chuffing in disgust.

"My poor baby." She whines, squeezing her eyes shut. "What happened to my geeky, little son?" She opens her eyes and Will stops his laughter.

"He's still geeky, Mom. Just has a wife now." He winks at his younger brother who just rolls his eyes, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

But suddenly, Saul comes in, and the light mood seems to drain away as Karla looks up.

"Saul?" She asks, standing up, and he slips his phone in his pocket, leaning his hands on the table. I expect him to give out to Yves about embarrassing his mother or not having a wall up to protect his mind, but instead his gaze lands on me.

"I'm so sorry, Emerald." He says and my body freezes, Will's arm tightening around my waist.

"Wh-what... why?" I ask, voice wavering.

"The Savant Net called and... and they want you back."


	38. Chapter 38 Emerald

**_Author's Note:_**

**__****Sorry for not uploading recently, but I had these big exams - oh my God, _maths_ - and I didn't really have a chance. But, don't worry, uploads will be every weekend like usual from now on.  
**

**Please follow, favourite and review!  
**

**Hope you enjoy! :)  
**

**Emerald**

The car pulls up outside of a huge, grey, cement warehouse. The other cars pull up behind us and we all get out at the same time, doors slamming shut. I shiver slightly as the wind nips at my bare arms, the summer ending. I hook a lock of my hair behind my ear as I stare up at the huge, imposing building in front of me. I can't believe that it was only this morning that I thought everything was fine... until Saul told me the Savant Net wanted me back.

"It's going to be okay." Will whispers into my ear as he winds an arm around my waist and brings me closer to him, making me warmer.

I look up at him, hating that my eyes are staring to swim, vision blurring. "How can you say that? What if we don't see each other again?" And, shit, I hate how my voice seems to waver, as if I need his help or something. But, don't I? I'll be the one missing him if the Savant Net take me away or – God forbid – give me back to wherever kind of hell I was when I was taken away. So, who cares if I sound kind of pathetic?

He's my soulfinder, and what if I don't come out alive?

Will's family surrounds us as Will looks down at me, the panic is clear on his face. His dark blue eyes are looking all over the place, as if he's trying to find away out. Like he'll throw me over his shoulder and sprint for the hills. He then settles his eyes on me.

"You'll be fine." He says, voice strained.

But I don't believe him.

I don't think any of his family do either, because when Saul says he has to bring me inside, they all start tearing up and hugging me. Sky clings to me, burying her face in my shirt as she can't reach my shoulder. Phee gives me a quick hug, but I see the anxiety in her eyes. After a hug from Diamond and Crystal, Trace pats my shoulder and Xav gives me a grave look before sweeping me into a bear hug.

"You'll be fine, Emerald. Will and my dad will look after you, you've got those two, you'll be fine." He tells me, kissing my head.

"She has me, too." Says a gruff voice from behind me, and I turn to see Zed, standing there awkwardly with his hands in his leather jacket.

"Yes." Sky quietly exclaims, fist pumping the air and his lips quirk up a bit at that.

"But you hate me." I tell him in a "duh" voice.

He nods, not looking bothered. "You're right, I do. But I love Sky and Will, and they love you so I'm gonna make sure you don't die or whatever." He shoots Sky a smirk. "Sky promised no more kisses if something happened to you."

My lips curl up in a small smile. "Thanks." I say, leaning into Will.

"Let's go, guys. Carrot's calling us." Saul says, and I look up at him and nod. I wave at everyone else as Karla motions them back into the cars, and then we head across the dark parking lot to the lit up cement warehouse.

A man with hair a lighter red than mine waits for us at a closed door. He gives us a bland smile before pushing the door open and making a sweeping gesture, motioning us in. I grab Will's hand, squeezing it as Saul walks in front of me and Zed stalks in behind me. The inside is completely empty, just grey cement walls and floors with flickering artificial lights. Men line the walls, some at the front of the warehouse and some at the back. The ones in front of me look at me curiously, some giving me smiles while the ones at the back – guarding the door we just stepped through – barely spare me a second glance. I notice that the ones in front of me – about ten or fifteen meters away – are guarding another door, like the one we just came through.

They all stand perfectly still as we walk to the middle of the large room, me gripping onto Will like he's my only safety harness in this place. We stop, and I look to Saul questioningly, but he's talking to Carrot, both in deep conversation.

I look to Will. "What now?"

"No idea." He says, chewing on his bottom lip as he pulls me closer to him, that makes all twelve of the guys in front of us guarding the door smile, while the ones behind us share looks of disgust.

_What's happening?_

"Calm down, Emerald. You drop your wall when you panic nowadays." Zed intones, neutrally as he stares straight ahead, and immediately I swear, clapping a hand to my head and hearing the huge _BOOM!_ As my walls go back up.

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes for a second.

_They can't hurt you, they can't hurt you, they can't hurt you._

That used to be true. One month ago that would've been true, but now I have Will, and I think just being away from him for a few minutes will hurt me.

Oh God, what has Will done to me?

But I feel so much... better now that I'm with him. A better person, a better human, a better Savant.

Before... before everything happened with Mom and Dad and me being taken away I thought being in love was when your palms would sweat and you'd start stuttering, like how I was around my crush in school, Darren Andrews. I used to think being in love was when your whole face would feel hot when he'd glance at you, or being in love was when you'd get embarrassed when my friends, Cara and Lisa, pointed at him or saw him and you A Look. That look that just says _you like him and if I have my way you two are going to get married_.

But that's not love.

I was fourteen and fifteen when I liked Darren, I'm nineteen now, almost twenty, and I'm in love. Love is when your chest feels like it's about to burst when Will walks into a room, as if your skin can't contain you or this new emotion anymore and you just explode because he's too perfect.

Love is when you realise how stupid you are because, of course he's not perfect. He's _so_ not perfect it's unbelievable, but love is loving him anyway.

Even if he is an idiot who doesn't take anything seriously and is too laid-back for his own good.

He's _my_ idiot who doesn't take anything seriously and is too laid-back for his own good.

I open my eyes again with this calming realisation, just as Carrot walks away from us, over to the twelve men in front of us who look at him suspiciously as he nears. The men behind us suddenly lift up guns from hidden holsters, pointing them at the men in front of us, but I know that if anything goes wrong, we'll be caught in the cross-fire.

_What's going on?_

I feel as if I've spent my whole life confused.

"Dad, what's happening?" Will voices my concern, tightening his grip around my waist and pulling me in front of him, being my human shield from the cocked guns behind us.

"Carrot said that someone wants to talk to Emerald, and that we'll go from there." Saul says, looking at us worriedly.

With a dry mouth, I try to swallow the lump that seems to have suddenly wedged itself in my windpipe.

I lick my cracked lips as the door suddenly opens, the two guards who were in front of it suddenly stepping to the side and pulling their own guns out. Except their guns look so much sleeker than the guys behind us, their arms are steadier, aims better and I know that if it came down to is, that they'd beat the men behind us.

_Wait... are they all not in the Savant Net? _I ask Will telepathically.

_I thought they were, but..._

_No, they're not. _Zed's voice suddenly pops into my head.

_Who are they?_

_The bad guys._

And then the door swings open and two men step out. One who's tall, really tall with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, he looks at me, giving me a cocky smirk, his eyes dancing with humour. He looks about my age, with some light blonde stubble along his jaw. The man beside him is a little taller, almost 6.7 with a sinewy muscled build and light, blonde hair. They're not related, even though they're both blonde. You can tell by the sharp, angular shape of the older man's jaw-line and high cheek-bones. The man looks to be in his fifties with hard, penetrating green eyes and an expressionless face. His gaze lands on me and his expression transforms, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

_Who is that guy? _Will asks Zed and I, but Zed just looks to me.

_That's... my dad. _I send back, before I begin to smile.


	39. Chapter 39 Emerald

**Emerald**

I'm smiling, but not because I'm happy.

I'm smiling because there's nothing else I can do.

Except for sobbing, perhaps.

Screaming, there's always screaming.

Going into a crazed state of panic and confusion and then killing the man in front of me by throwing him across the room and into one of the cement walls, there's always that.

Maybe this time he'll stay dead.

"Bu... but you're dad's dead!" Will exclaims, cupping my face and turning it so I'm looking at him. Into his dark blue eyes that are wide with worry and confusion.

I haven't seen him happy and at ease in so long.

I am a horrible soulfinder.

"He's dead." He repeats in a whisper, staring at me as if I too am not thinking that.

I want to scream; _I know he's dead! My mother saw the whole thing! She told me he was shot in the head!_

I want to scream and cry at the unfairness of it all. Just when life was looking up, making sense, my dad has to come back from the dead and screw everything up.

"You're supposed to be dead." Zed growls at my dad, which makes all the men behind my dad – except for the tall blonde guy with the cocky grin beside him – angle their guns towards Zed.

_Shut up!_ I hiss into Zed's mind, making him give me a pained side-ways look.

_Why is he defending me?_ I think, though I know it's obvious. This guy can't be a dick all the time, I mean, he has to be amazing for a girl like Sky to love him.

Dad completely ignores the men with guns in front and behind him. The guys behind him, who smile at me, I realise, are his mafia members, guys I vaguely recognise growing up with.

My dad smiles at me, that cool, unruffled smile that would make you think I just told him I got an A on a math test and not that I was kidnapped and held hostage for five years believing that he was dead.

Does that mean my mom is alive as well?

No.

No that's wrong.

No, she is still dead.

If there is one person in my life I can trust it was my mother, and she's dead.

I know she's dead, there's no way she could live without me. That she could live knowing I was held in a "clinic".

"Emerald." Dad breathes, and just like that he's striding over to me. Arms outstretched and the cool smile on his face. But Will and Zed step in front of me, and instead of pushing them away and cursing them out of it, I step back, letting them block me from my dad and all those smiling men with guns.

When you have a gun in your hand, you shouldn't smile.

He stops, my dad stops, and a small frown takes up his features.

"Doll, what are you doing?" He asks, New York accent thick. "Give your pop a hug." The cool smile slides onto his face and suddenly Zed and Will are being ripped apart and I'm being marched up and pushed into the arms of my father. With a quick glance behind me before Dad enfolds me in a hug I see Carrot, retreating after just marching me up here and two more Savant Net members holding struggling Benedicts.

Dad smells like he always did. Expensive cologne and crisp, clean clothes. He squeezes me, enveloping me in the warmth from his tall body, and then he pulls back, smiling down at me.

"Look at you, all grown up."

"I'm nineteen."

"I know."

"You missed a lot."

"I know."

"I thought you were dead."

"I know."

"If you knew, then why didn't you save me?!" I suddenly scream at him, and that's the real problem. The real killer.

All those years I was alone, locked up with only my mind and loose grip on reality for company, he was out in the real world, probably transporting millions of dollars worth of drugs and having people – mostly savants – murdered or kidnapped for their power.

"Because I couldn't." Is Dad's simple reply, his face blank and clear of all emotion. The guy behind him steps forward, all blonde hair, blue eyes, tanned skin and surfer-boy body.

"Don't be so hard on your dad, Emerald, he did what he had to do." Says the guys, his accent just like mine and then my stomach drops down to my toes, my heart rate picks up and my eyes widen, breath hitching.

"Darren Andrews?" I breathe in question. Darren Andrews from school? Darren Andrews the best surfer under sixteen in Melbourne? Darren Andrews the hottest guy in Australia? Darren Andrews the boy I was in love with for my whole school life?

His cocky grin remains. "That's me, sweetheart. How's life been treating you?" And then his eyes trail over my body. "Very well from the looks of it."

I hear Will growl from behind me, Zed chuff in disgust but my dad doesn't even blink.

"Believe me, Emerald. I did what had to be done, but you're out now." His smile brightens, lighting up his face a little. "And now you can come home."

"Is mom dead?" I blurt out, trying very hard not to think about what he just said.

"_And now you can come home..."_

Can I?

Would I?

Dad flinches a little, but that's the only sign that he's hurt by the comment and the reminder of his deceased soulfinder.

"No," He says, voice grave and eyes steady on mine. "Your mother passed away shortly after you were taken."

Passed away. He makes it sound so dignified, as if she died gently in her sleep and not in a hail of bullets.

I nod, because it's the only thing I can do.

He smiles again, a small smile. "But it's okay because I'm here now, I'm taking you home, okay?"

"But first we want Davina." Carrot suddenly butts in, surprising us all. Dad doesn't even look up at him, he keeps his green eyes on me.

"Of course. Darren, get the woman." He doesn't look back, his gaze is unwavering as he stares at me.

A second later a woman is dragged through the door in a black pencil skirt and white blouse with her bun in a mess and mascara trails down her cheeks as she sobs.

"Shut up." Darren says, disgusted and she whimpers as he stalks forward and throws the woman into Carrot's hands. Carrot takes the woman and she practically melts into him, he wraps his arms around her, kissing her and murmuring calming words into her ear as he kisses her on the lips and then passes her to another Savant Net man and she's carefully taken out of the building.

Carrot turns back and gives a stiff nod to my dad. "Thank you, everyone's a winner now. We'll leave."

"Wait, what do you mean "everyone's a winner"?" Will suddenly growls, wrenching himself out of the Savant Net man's grip. He glares at my dad before shooting me a quick look of worry.

"Mr. Savage has Emerald and we have Davina." He nods again to my dad and turns around, the other Savant Net men retreating.

"_WHAT_?!" Will and I demand in unison, turning to look helplessly at each other.

"Come on, we need to leave now. We've came for what we needed. Ben," Carrot looks over at Saul, calling him by the fake name he gave the Savant Net. "Get your kids and let's get out of here."

"Shut up! You never told me we were giving up Emerald!" Saul suddenly shouts at him, shocking everyone, even my dad.

"Be-"

"Why should we give up my son's soulfinder for yours?!" He yells at him and Carrot glares at him.

"Because it is part of our deal." The deep voice answers from behind me and I turn to look at my calm dad.

"There is no _way_, I'm letting you take Emerald from me." Will grounds out, looking between my father and Carrot.

"You have to, it's part of our deal." Dad tells him.

And then they all start shouting. Dad about honouring the deal, Will about me being his soulfinder, Saul about the idiocy of it all, Zed about Carrot being an ass and Carrot about how I'm the daughter of a murderer.

They can't just let that go, can they?

"Stop." I say, calmly, quietly, but nobody's listening and all the men in front and behind me have their guns trained on their enemies. Darren just smirks at everything, arms folded over his chest as I stare at the ground, eyes transfixed on nothing.

"Stop." I say again, but either they don't hear me or they don't care because their voices are getting louder and louder.

"STOP!" I scream, and they do, and the place goes silent as I stare at the ground, not looking at anybody.

"I'll go." I whisper, so quiet that it takes a moment for everyone to hear.

"What?!" Demands Will, grabbing my arm, but Darren is their, shoving him back with a glare.

"You do not touch Ms. Savage." He growls, tone low and menacing, all traces of the cocky smile he had gone in an instant.

"She's my sou-"

"I don't care what she is to you, Mr. Benedict. She's my daughter and she wants to come home." Dad tells them, pulling Darren away from him and I just stand there, trying to breathe and trying not to fall over and cry.

"We're leaving." Carrot says, giving the Benedicts hard looks. "We're leaving _now_."

"I'm no-"

"Can I talk to Will for a second?" I look up to my dad, eyes wide and lips pouting. He smiles and nods. "Of course." And I grab Will's shaking hand and lead him away from them all, into the far off corner where they can't hear us.

I turn us around, so I'm leaning against the corner as Will's big, rugby player body blocks everyone out.

He stares down at me, eyes pleading and slightly wet so he quickly scrubs them away, trying to look tough.

"You can't go, Emerald. You can't do this." He whispers desperately and I don't want to, my God I don't want to, especially when he's looking at me like that, as if he'd kill everyone in the room and throw me over his shoulder to take me away to safety.

"I'm so sorry, Will, I-"

"No, no, no. You're not doing this! I'm not letting you go!" He grabs my arms, pulling me to him and crushing his lips to mine.

And I give in, for a second, I let my body mold into his and I tangle my hands in his hair, as if I'm trying to remember every inch of him, because I am.

Because I know I'm never going to see him again.

I pull back, letting my arms fall to my sides as he stares down at me.

"I'm going with him, Will. I'm sorry, but I'm going with him." I tell him softly, gently. As if that can help him in anyway.

And maybe, if we were just two regular teenagers who were madly in love, maybe it would work.

But we're not, we're soulfinders, soul mates. I was _made_ for Will, and he was made for me.

So there's no way I can soften the blow, no way I can make this easier.

But I don't cry, because I'm a Savage and we have an old saying;

"We stand strong, We stay strong."

And that saying is right, and it kept me going those five years so it can keep me going now.

"Bu-" Will starts, but I shake my head, staring up at him with beseeching eyes.

"I love you, Will." I tell him honestly, pressing a kiss to his nose. I then pull away from him and walk around him.

"You don't." He says, making me freeze and turn back.

He stares at me, eyes unforgiving and hard.

"Of course I do." I tell him, breathing suddenly becoming ragged.

"No, you don't." He tells me, eyes narrowed. "If you did you wouldn't leave."

I don't answer him, how can I? He's right, isn't he? I just turn back around and start walking. When I came to the Benedicts house, I never knew what I'd become. I never thought I'd become a friend to all the girls, especially to Sky, I never thought I'd become like a little sister to Xav and Uriel, or a frenemy to Zed, or a new daughter to Saul and Karla, and I definitely never thought I'd become the soulfinder of Will Benedict.

But I did, and I am.

I love Will, and I'm his soulfinder.

But as I walk towards my father I know I'm something more.

I'm a soulfinder, yes.

But I'm a Savage above all else.

_**Author's Note:**_

**Here you go, there will be an update next weekend, like usual and I'm really sorry that this one is so... depressing. :(  
**

**It's almost the end guys, but don't worry, I've started the next fanfic, Abandoning Rain, so you have that to look forward to if you miss this :)**

**Please follow, favourite and review!**

**Hope you enjoyed!:)**


	40. Chapter 40 Emerald

**Emerald**

It was all very... loud.

I got to Dad, but that didn't sit well with Zed and Saul. It seemed as if just because Will had stopped caring – thinking that I didn't love him – that didn't mean_ they_ had stopped caring.

It was all bullets flying and guns sailing out of hands and people ducking and Darren Andrews crashing his hot surfer bod on top of me as the "good guys" went against the "bad guys". (Though I, personally, think the good guys are evil).

Nobody got shot – still have no idea _how_ – but Zed and Saul were pissed. Saul was silently fuming in his brooding state while Zed was struggling against the Savant Net men that were restraining him and screaming curses at my dad.

"Give her back, you bastard!" He shouted. "She's a Benedict, give her back!"

I loved the sentiment, of course, but I wasn't an object they were just renting out to people. I was a person with my own thoughts and feelings.

And my thoughts and feelings were that that Davina girl could make Carrot a lot happier than I could make Will.

And, that's the thing, isn't it? Why should I let a poor woman suffer when I could just skip on home to my newly alive dad? Why should I let Carrot go without a perfectly good soulfinder when all Will had to do was give up his crazy one for Carrot and Davina to be happy?

Now, as armed men swarm around me, we make our way to my father's limousine. The three of us – Dad, Darren and I – slip in and the car immediately lurches into motion. I lean my head against the cool window, the August heat obviously not doing much to this car. But I quickly squeeze my eyes shut when we pass the Benedicts, all of them standing outside their SUV's and staring at me as we drive past them.

Then come their voices, their pleas;

_Emerald, please, tell us where you are, we'll get you out. _That's Sky, probably thinking I've been taken or blackmailed, because, why else would I leave their loving family and my gorgeous soulfinder?

_Emerald, I know he's your dad, but think about Will! _Uriel, thinking about his family like always, even though I know he's suspicious about me, he's kind of my friend and he loves Will.

_Emmie, come back! _Xav's clear and simple plea has me blinking back tears, the stupid douche just had to give me a nickname and make this a thousand times harder, didn't he?

_Emerald, don't worry, we're not giving up. We'll get you back. _Victor's sudden appearance in my head has me shocked, but he gets no answer just like the rest.

_You're killing him, Emerald! GET BACK HERE!_ I don't need to ask who "him" is, Zed's order is very clear, and right after that, I switch my mind off, going completely blank. No more voices come in, and I don't send anything out.

All of them, every single person in that family tries to get back in.

Everyone except Will.

_**Author's Note:**_

**This is really short and a filler, sorry.  
**

**Please review, follow and favourite!**

**Hope you enjoyed!:)**


	41. Chapter 41 Will

**Will**

It's been four days.

I think I'm dying.

The only times I've left my room are to shower or use the toilet, and all those times my family have tried to intercept me, to help them come up with a plan to rescue her. To get her back.

But she doesn't _need_ rescuing.

She doesn't _want_ to come back.

Everything I do seems to be ten times angrier. I don't put things down anymore, I slam them down. I don't toss things on my bed, I hurl them into my walls, I don't walk, I stomp, I don't open and close tings, I yank and I slam shut. Everything in my life seems to be more intense, more forceful.

I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling blankly. I don't like that my chest is hurting, or that there's a lump in my throat, or that my eyes have been burning with unshed tears for _four days_.

I'm a _guy_, I haven't cried in a long time, so why do I want to cry now?

Because my soulfinder is gone, that's why.

Sometimes, when I'm in the moment, hovering between the conscious world and the unconscious one, I swear I can hear her voice, can smell her skin, can see her red hair.

Of course, when I blink my eyes open I'm back in Colorado, in my dark bedroom.

Alone.

"Will, come out, man." Zed hammers on the door, but I don't move an inch. They've come up with some sort of rota. Every fifteen minutes a new person will come up, knock on the door, try to talk me out for five minutes and will then go back downstairs. Ten minutes later, someone else comes up, tries to talk me out and then leaves.

I've got to give them props for trying, though.

God, when did I become so tense? So focused and driven? When did I become so... old?

"Will, _please_ come out. Mom has your cake made and everything, please, man." Zed begs, voice cracking and I pause.

Cake?

And then it hits me.

It's my twentieth birthday today.

I don't realise I'm opening the door until Zed pulls me into a quick hug, slapping my back before pulling away.

"You okay, Will?" He breathes, face full of worry and relief.

I nod, blinking. It's... bright out here. I look down the hallways, noticing nobody else is up here.

"Where's everybody?" I ask, quietly, and Zed throws an arm over my shoulder, bringing me down the hallways.

"They're all down stairs, I guess Mom knew I could talk you down." He flashes me a cocky grin as we head down the stairs and I give him a small smile in return, feeling drained and tired. Very tired.

"I've got him guys!" Zed calls out as we walk into the brightly lit and decorated kitchen, birthday poppers suddenly sounding with cheers and applause. It's just my family and their soulfinders, yet it feels like more people are here. The place feels smaller, too many people.

They all crowd around me like they haven't seen me in years, pulling me into tight and long hugs, telling me happy birthday and handing me presents. I can't help but think back to that guy I shot at the beginning of the summer.

The man I killed to get Emerald back, and all I can think is;

_Was it worth it?_

Was trying to get Emerald worth taking that man's life? Sure, I got my soulfinder, but now she's off with her murderer of a father doing God knows what.

Maybe her dad's murdered her.

If that was the case, then killing that poor man definitely wasn't worth it.

I paste on the biggest smile I own and I eat dinner with my family. We eat and they laugh and I nod along with them. We have cake and I open my presents and say thank you. They all hug me and tip-toe around the fact that we're missing a very, very important person. But they don't mention her and neither do I. When they ask how I'm feeling, I gloss over the fact that my chest is aching and I want to go out and rip the world in half until I find Emerald, and I tell everyone I'm fine. They don't need to know that even though I regret killing that man, I'd do it again in a heartbeat for one more minute with Emerald.

But it's not like she's dead. She's out there, somewhere. Maybe even in Australia with her dad, though he sounded American. Maybe they're off playing happy families or maybe she's somewhere crying.

Or maybe, like me, she's celebrating her birthday as well with completely different people.

But thinking the exact same thoughts as I am.

_**Author's Note:**_

**Another short chapter, but don't worry, things will go down in the next one. We're nearing the end of this fanfic, but I've already started "Abandoning Rain" which is Uriel's story. (Yeah, I know I skipped Victor, but hopefully I'll do one for him after Abandoning Rain, so it will make more sense ) Please don't forget to follow, favourite and review so I know that some people still read this.**

**And here is a teaser for Abandoning Rain;**

"Hey, are you all right?" A lilting, sweet voice asks from above me. I blink my eyes open and turn my head to the right to see a tiny girl standing in the front yard of the next house. A large, monstrosity of a structure, that resembles our new one.

"I'm fine." I drawl, stretching my arms out and arching my back that makes the small blonde arch her eyebrows.

"It's just that... well," She blushes. "Um... you're kind of lying in the middle of the garden." I grin at her and her eyelids flutter, her brows furrowing as she steps closer to the tiny stone wall that divides her nicely trimmed lawn from my over-grown one. "Are you... are you the new neighbour?"

**Hope you enjoyed!:)**


	42. Chapter 42 Emerald

**Emerald**

I think my dad is a good person now.

Which is stupid. He's a murderer, he's a drug dealer, he's corrupt. And yet, I've been here for a week, and every time I've seen him – which seems to be for most of the days – he's been nothing but nice and caring and _fatherly_ to me. Always smiling his cool and unruffled smile and giving me hugs. He's like the Benedicts, fattening me up. He makes sure I have the best clothes and care. I'm pretty sure the food he gives me is made by some sort of gourmet chef, because it's delicious.

But tonight, as I wander down the dark halls, I can't help but wonder where he is. I haven't slept since I left...

Since I left. I haven't slept a wink. I'm not used to the freedom of being able to walk around when you can't sleep. Back in Hell I was obviously locked up, and I was locked up for most of my stay in the Benedicts, except for the last couple of weeks, but I slept then because I had...

Running a hand through my red hair I look from wall to wall. I've never been here before, it's not my old house. It's huge, it's premises spacing over hundreds of acres. Who knows how many people live here? I haven't even been to the west wing yet, Dad is keeping me busy over here in the east.

_And Darren..._

He seems to be everywhere I go. When I'm in a room, he suddenly appears. Not like my mom used to appear, gone one minute and there the next, but he just seems to creep into the room without me even noticing him.

And that scares me.

As a savant who prides themselves on noticing everything – constantly being in the know – when you're not, it makes panic claw at your throat. Which is why I always hated my little cell for those years, because not only did I not have any idea _why_ I was there, I didn't know what they wanted. And for those five years I was there, not once did they experiment on me. They experimented on the others, but not on me. Maybe I could accept it if I knew what was happening, I could find one small piece of peace, but I knew nothing.

And Darren makes me feel like that again. He's always looking at me, his eyes following me when I'm with Dad or when I'm eating, hell, maybe he's even watching me right now.

The thought makes me shudder, and I speed up. My bare feet padding on the cream carpet. The hallways are empty, and the place is unbearably silent, making all my thoughts surface.

I miss Sky. Which is stupid. I only knew her for a little over two months, and the girl is already something to me. She's a friend, and I didn't know how desperately I needed one of them until she came along. It's sappy and cheesy and completely stupid, but everyone needs some kind of friend who they can just dump all their problems on, which sounds selfish, but isn't, because she'll do the exact same thing to me.

And I miss Uriel as well, his cool and calm demeanor was so comforting. Life is always so... hectic, but Uriel is the kind of guy that will make you take a step back and survey your life. He's like a breath of fresh air, the kind of guy who doesn't demand your full attention or full commitment in a friendship. He's not laid-back like... or a geek like Yves. He's intelligent, but doesn't flaunt it. He's that quiet kid in the corner, the one who spends more time in his mind than he does in the real world. I can't count how many times he's zoned out when we spoke. He just goes off into his own world. His mind elsewhere.

Zed hates me, it's obvious from the vein that throbs at his temple every time he glances my way, and the way his jaw tightens, and yet, I miss him too. I miss his sarcastic comments and his sneers and glares. I want the security of always knowing that no matter what happens, Zed will always hate me. It's strange, but when I was with the Benedicts, it was a constant. When... and my relationship was changing, becoming stronger, more romantic, when him and I were becoming more like soulfinders, Zed was still hating me. He was still the guy scowling in the corner with his leather jacket and fairy-like soulfinder.

Hushed voices make me snap out of my reverie, my walking pauses. It's dark, and I'm alone. Everyone else is sleeping, a hush has descended over the house as it's around 3 a.m in the morning.

"... Emerald..."

My name draws my attention, and before I know it, I'm moving stealthily towards the room with the door open a crack.

"She's still my little girl." I can see a sliver of my father, a small, contented smile on his face as he sits in a lounge chair, legs kicked up onto the coffee table.

"She's not that little, and she's a woman now." Darren's voice floats out, and immediately wariness settles in the pit of my stomach.

_I don't trust him, I don't trust him, I don't trust him._

Five years ago I would've killed to have Darren following me around, now I'm contemplating killing him so that he'll leave me alone.

"Calm down, kid. She's not goin' anywhere, and you'll have her soon. Just try to relax with the stalkin', will you? I can't keep tellin' her you're acting as a protective big brother forever, she's getting suspicious." His accent is thicker now, more pronounced than when he's around me, and I realise he's sounding less articulate and becoming more relaxed.

"Yeah." Darren blows out a breath. "But I'm getting tired of waiting, Rob. It's been a while."

"It's been five years, kid. If you've waited that long, you can wait another week or two. We just need her to trust us and then we're solid, you got that?" He cocks a brow.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then she's mine?" There's a tinge of desperation in Darren's voice, and I can just imagine the expression he pulls whenever he thinks I'm not looking at him. That entranced, intense and desperate look on his face as if he's undressing me with his eyes, hungrily looking me up and down.

Dad smiles. "And then she's as good as your soulfinder."

_**Author's Note:**_

**So... close... to... the... end!  
**

**I've never finished a story in my life, so I have to thank you're amazing reviews for that, but keep them piling gin so that I'll be motivated to update sooner than the weekend, because we're like, three or four chapters until the end, and I really want to show you guys "Abandoning Rain" soon.**

**Please favourite (because I have barely any of them), follow and review. Also, tell me your favourite Benedict brother and what you like about them. **

**Here's an Abandoning Rain thing;**

**"**I looked up from my thoughts to see my dad quickly wiping his eyes, scrubbing his face and taking deep breaths, but we all knew he was dying inside. Amy was beside him, one of my brothers' soulfinders. She was sobbing hysterically, her small frame shaking. Daddy had an arm around her, but none of my brothers went to help her, they were too busy surrounding me.**"**

**Hope you enjoyed!:)**


	43. Chapter 43 Emerald

**Emerald**

I'm an idiot, and there's no nicer way to put it.

For months I made... _him_... try to win over my trust, I made his family practically jump through hoops so that I could give them a little trust. And yet, being with my dad for only a week made me hand myself over to him completely, as if I was the same little girl I was before he "died".

But I'm not, I'd like to say I'm smarter, but leaving... _him_... has proved that I'm not. Why did I ever leave the Benedicts? It was the biggest mistake of my life to ever leave that family, because _they_ are a real family, not my dad and his pathetic excuse of an assistant who he seems to be pimping me out to.

I discovered last night not to trust my dad, and now, as I finish my breakfast, I try to push away the stab of pain I feel every few minutes from being so far away from... _him_... but it's useless as usual.

I need... _him_.

My God, I can't even say the guy's name and yet I need him like he's a drug.

I cradle my head in my hands as images of... _him_... flash through my mind. His laugh, his smile, his hair, his face, his _abs_. I want to go back, I want to go back so much that it brings tears to my eyes, but would he let me? Would my soulfinder take me back? Would he forgive me? Would he... love me? Would there always be a nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him that I could run off again?

Can I ever go back?

The answer is; yes. Of course I can. I can go back and the Benedicts would welcome me with open arms. They'd smile and laugh and hug the life out of me, and... _Will_ would too. He'd probably pick me up and squish me to him. But I've left him. He'll always be wary. He'll always wonder if he turns his back I might run off again.

But if I ever went back, I wouldn't. Will is it for me. He's it. He's my future. He's the guy I imagine being with for the rest of my life. One day I want to marry him, I want to hold his hand and I want him to be proud of me. I want him to be _proud_ to call me his soulfinder. And that's not too much to ask. For my soul mate to love me.

I press my forehead against the wooden table, eyes shut as my mind whirls with possibilities and scenarios, because I don't care if he doesn't want me back. I need to escape this place, and I need Will to know that I made a mistake, and that in the end, I choose him.

That I'll always choose him.

But how do you escape your mafia leader father without him noticing?

That's the thing, you don't.

"I want to leave." They are the first words that leave my mouth when I step into the room filled with my father's "friends". Sure, maybe it's not the best move to declare to my father and his bodyguards that I don't want to be here anymore. But there's not a hope in Hell that I can get out of here by myself. Not only because these people are all savants and have their own powers, but also because I have no idea where this place is and where the Benedicts house is. I could always use telepathy to talk to a Benedict, but that might lead my dad or one of his friends to where they're living, because not even my dad knows where they're situated.

Dad closes his book slowly and coolly. He folds his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow, aiming for casual but failing miserably when Darren practically shouts;

"Leave? You can't leave!"

I don't even look at him, though I know that there is a firm scowl etched into my face.

_How dare he tell me what I can't do?_

Not even Will could tell me that, and we're made for each other. If this dog thinks he can dictate where I can go, I'll show him where he can go, and it's a place where the sun doesn't shine.

Dad gives me a cool look. "Why would you want to go, Em?" And I shudder at the nick-name, reminding me of easier times with happier people and nicer lives.

But I'm happy now.

Or at least, I was, until I found out my dad wasn't dead. Which is funny, because when Mom told me he was murdered I would've done anything to get him back.

But now, remembering what he's really like, I'd do anything to get rid of him again.

Dad tilts his head to the side a bit, staring right at me. "You don't want to leave, Emerald."

And the vibrations that go up and down my spine clue me in to the fact that Dad is trying to take away my inhibitions, my choices. He's trying to _make_ me stay.

But I have a Benedict waiting for me to grow up and come back to him, and I aim to go back to the Benedicts by nightfall.

"Yes. I. Do." I say through clenched teeth, but surprise doesn't flit across his face, like I thought it would. Instead, he smiles and stares at me as he says;

"Organise a meeting with the Benedicts, Darren. Tell them we have their missing child."

* * *

_**Author's Note:  
**_

**I'm uploading about three chapters tonight, because it's finished!  
**

**YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYAYA YAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYA YAYAYYAY!**

**I have never finished a story before, so thank you for all your amazing reviews, and if you've never reviewed before, why not use your last chance to?**

**Please favourite this story if you liked it at all, and I'm going to be posting Abandoning Rain soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that.**

**Also, all these chapters aren't properly edited, because I just wanted to get them out. I might re-edit them later, but here you go.**

**Hope you enjoyed!:)**


	44. Chapter 44 Emerald

**Emerald**

When I told my dad that I wanted to leave, I didn't know that he'd get his men to grab me by the arms and haul me down to a limo, shoving me in before Darren and Dad slowly slid in moments after.

I didn't know that we'd set off moments after my confession, or that Dad would look so relaxed, as if he expected nothing less than for me to realise that I hate him.

That I've always secretly hated him.

Though, it obviously wasn't a secret to him.

Everything is moving so fast it's making my head spin. A few months ago I was locked in a cell of solitude, forbidden from seeing the sun or even choosing to end my life. Then, I was rescued – like I always had envisioned – by my soulfinder. We hated each other, but just like any other cheesy romance, we fell in love. Or at least, I did. But then, a couple of weeks ago, my dad showed up out of no where. And yes, part of me going with him was because Carrot deserved his soulfinder, but that's not the full reason. The full reason is...

I just missed my dad.

I missed that link I had to the man, and even though, when I was a kid, he wasn't around that much, when he was around I loved him. I didn't fully grasp what he did, didn't really understand the atrocities he committed to the savant kind, but even when I did realise what he was – a murderer and so much more – I still loved him. It's that unconditional love a child has for their parent.

But my dad had all the resources in the world, he could've gotten me back from my kidnappers. But he didn't, and maybe it's something I'll never understand.

The limo stops and the door opens, the cold air rushing in. I shiver, my sweatpants and camisole not doing much against the unseasonably cold wind.

"Here, Em. Wouldn't want you to freeze, would we?" My dad smiles as he plucks the black, leather jacket from the seat beside him and hands it to me. I gingerly take it, shrugging it on. I feel a hard lump in the pocket and wince.

_It's probably a gun. _I think, careful not to touch it. Only _my_ dad would pack heat into his jacket.

Dad exits first, a sulking Darren close behind, and when I get out of the car, Darren takes my hand. Even after I try to wrench away, he keeps a firm grasp on it, giving me a cold smile as we start walking. I look straight ahead, jaw clenched as I glare at the warehouse in front of me. The last time I was here I was terrified, now I'm excited.

I'm going home to Will.

I see the two cars of the Benedicts and my heartbeat thumps in my chest as we make our way over to the warehouse, the sun setting around us.

"You're making a mistake." Darren's voice breaks me out of my thoughts, and I turn to look up at him, squinting in the light.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about _us_. You say the word, you just say the word, Emerald, and we'll turn around and go back to your dad's place. We'll get a place of our own, get jobs and soon you'll forget all about that Benedict dog." He glares accusingly at the warehouse. I shudder when he says my name, and not in the good way I did when Will says my name. But in a way that makes me feel dirty.

I take a deep breath. Being with Will taught me to breathe past my anger, and not just explode on people, like I'd like to do with Darren.

"Listen," I say, slowly, quietly. "There is no "us". I don't like you, I don't want you and I never will." I dig my heels into the ground and then rip my hand out of his, glaring with a ferocity I didn't know I possessed at him. "And Will isn't a dog, he's more of a man then you will _ever_ be. Trying to steal someone's soulfinder? That's low, even for one of my dad's lackeys." I say in disgust, before channelling my inner Zed and stalking away from him, trying to catch up to Dad and his body-guards.

I hear the slap of shoes as Darren catches up with me, and he grabs my elbow, spinning me around, making my red hair lash into my face.

"So, what? You think you're going to run off to your Benedict boy and ride off into the sunset?" He yells at me, teeth gritted and a vein throbbing in his temple.

"That," I hiss, taking a step towards him with my same, ferocious glare. "Is exactly what I'm going to do. And not you or my father can do a damn thing about it, you got it, you dog?"

His whole body seems to thrum with anger, his eye twitching, and I'd find it amusing if he wasn't coming closer to me, his long legs eating up the space between us before he's grabbing my face and crushing it against his, mashing his lips with mine.

It's all very violent, nothing about it sweet or pleasurable at all. His hands don't gently tangle in my hair, they fist in it and reef my head back so that he can deepen the kiss, trying to get me to open my mouth. And after pulling my hair hard enough, I open my mouth, yelling out in pain against his lips.

Something snaps within me, and even though we've kissed for barely ten seconds, my whole body starts shaking, and not with fear.

It's that anger again.

That anger that has warning voices in the back of my head screaming at me to stop, to calm down. To take a deep breath and think about the ocean, about the beach back home. About the surf and my old friends.

But that's the wrong thing to tell me to think about.

Because the other part of me – a bigger part – has its own voices. Loud voices. That shriek and cry and holler at me to make him stop.

To make him _stop_.

Darren is sailing through the air before he can even stutter the word "oops". My hands had sprung forward, pushing into his shoulders, and unlike other girls my age, my push actually had some force behind it. And not the kind of force muscle or strength gives you, but the force a savant ability gives you.

Darren's body sails through the air, soaring and soaring metres and metres away, twirling and flipping like a rag doll before he lands on the ground a very long distance away from me, landing in the extremely tall field around the empty car park of the warehouse. He lands with a grotesque _CRACK_ and _SNAP_ and I have the sickest feeling in my stomach that those sounds came from his neck and that Darren won't be coming after me again. Ever again.

Oh my God...

No.

My eyes are wide, disgust, panic and fear clawing at my throat as I spin around on my heel and sprint after my father and his body guards, wondering if they heard or saw what happened, and if they did, do they care?

Falling into a brisk walk I make it to right behind Dad and the guys, breath coming out in pants and stomach flipping. Whether it's from my still not-fit-enough body, or because of the motionless boy laying in the field beside us, I have no idea.

_I just killed Darren Andrews._

Darren Andrews the most gorgeous boy in my school.

Darren Andrews the greatest surfer in our town.

Darren Andrews the boy I had a crush on for years.

Darren Andrews who knew I was kidnapped.

Darren Andrews who worked for my dad.

Darren Andrews the murderer.

Darren Andrews the boy who apparently had a crush on _me_ for years.

Darren Andrews who tried to take me away from Will.

Darren Andrews the boy I just killed.

Bile rises up my throat, but I swallow it, refusing to throw up or show any sign of weakness around my dad.

_He caused this. He's the one who made me a murderer._

Now Zed can call me a murderer all he wants and he'll be right.

The body guards open the warehouse doors wide, the artificial light spilling out into the open, but my mind is whirling with thoughts of the Benedicts as Dad turns around and gives me a lazy smile.

"I see Darren's gone." He murmurs softly to me, and all I can do is nod numbly.

"God," He sighs out, sounding slightly bored. "Saves me the trouble."

And for some insane reason, that eases the panic and fear, but the disgust is still there, swirling in my stomach and causing the bile to rise up again, but I keep swallowing it back down.

_What's Will going to think?_

Because, just like Zed, at first he thought I was a murderer. And now, I am.

I just want to close my eyes and curl into a ball and sleep, and sleep and sleep. I just want to cry and sleep and eat. I want to be left alone to mend my aching heart, because Will can't want me now, can he? I've proved him right. I'm just like my dad.

I'm a monster.

I guess it's why my surname is "Savage", it's really telling my future.

"Emerald?"

My head whips to the side so fast I'm surprised my neck doesn't snap.

_What? Like Darren's did?_

But I ignore my snarky mind, and instead focus my eyes on the boy across the warehouse from me, his family fanned out across the place.

"Will." I breathe, and my voice is shaky and wavering and a lump forms in my throat, making speaking difficult. My vision blurs, and I quickly scrub at my eyes, my bottom lip trembling.

_Not now, not now, not now._

I'm supposed to be happy, and I am. But my stupid emotions are getting in the way and it's all becoming too much, and my God how stupid does that sound? It makes me sound like some stupid damsel in distress and not a girl who just killed her childhood crush moments ago.

Of course, that thought has my eyes watering even more before tears are rolling down my cheeks and I'm wiping them furiously away, my face red with anger and my hands shaking with fury. I don't want to be sad now, I want to be with Will. Will makes everything better. Will will stop the hurting. The disgust and the guilt.

My God, I just killed Darren Andrews.

He had a baby sister, and a mom and a dad. He had a family and I just killed him.

Will will make it better.

My feet thump on the concrete floor as I sprint to Will, but a strong arm around my waist wrenches me back, causing my legs to kick out wildly in the air, the wind being knocked out of me.

"Let-me-go!" I struggle in the body guard's grasp, but it's rock solid, and just before I decide to mentally fling him across the room, my dad speaks.

"Now, now, Em. Calm down, you'll have your soulfinder in one second, right after I get what I came for."

Saul steps in front of Will whose hands are hanging limply by his sides as he stares at me, face gaunt and shoulders slumped, his expression one of desperation and sorrow as he takes in my struggling form.

He looks so... hopeless.

His male pride and macho-ego severely beaten as he can't just run up, punch the guy holding me in the face, throw me over his shoulder and take me back to his cave.

"What did you come here for?" Saul's deep voice booms, Uriel and Victor flanking him, both with equal, steely glares in my father's direction. My eyes trail over the family, everyone seems to be there, even Sky who gives me a sneaky smile and thumbs up before changing her expression into a "terrifying" scowl and directing it at my dad. She looks like a pissed-off kitten, and when Zed glances down for a second I see him fight off a smile before he sobers up and meets me gaze, giving me a nod before turning his gaze back to our dads.

"All we agreed to was coming here and collecting Emerald, taking her _home_." He puts emphasis on the word, glancing at me before looking back to my dad.

My dad gives a mirthless laugh, crossing his arms over his chest as if he does this thing all the time – which he probably does – and feels completely at ease. "You didn't honestly think that I'd just hand my daughter over to you without wanting something in return, did you?"

Nobody answers, but I hear a growl and my eyes land on Xav, standing beside Will. Xav meets my eyes and clenches his jaw, motioning to my dad before pointing to his middle finger.

I think he's trying to tell me that my dad is a... well, not a nice guy.

I nod in agreement, my eyes skipping over to Crystal, standing beside him. She offers me a small smile before wrapping her arm around Xav's shoulder and pulling him to her.

"What do you want?" Saul says, calmly and coolly, and if they weren't such polar opposites, I'd say my dad and Saul could be friends, they have the same fake calm.

"Not "what"," Dad says, with a smirk and a new, wicked glint lighting up his eyes. "Who." And his hard, gleaming green eyes flit over to Xav.

But they skip past him and land on Crystal.

Crystal's eyes widen, her head jerking back. "What?" Her mixed up accent says. "Why the hell would you want me?"

"It doesn't matter why," Xav growls out, all signs of his joking attitude flying out the window when someone mentions his soulfinder. He positions himself in front of her, glaring at my dad. "You're not getting her."

But Dad carries on, undeterred and completely ignoring Xav. "You can find people's soulfinder's, Crystal. And I've searched for you for a very, very long time." Dad looks over at the guy holding me, and motions at something before I feel the cold metal of the barrel of a gun pressed to my forehead.

Gasps echo from some of the Benedicts, Will making a choking sound in the back of his throat and Saul's eyes hardening.

"You wouldn't hurt her, she's your daughter." Saul growls, lowly.

But Dad just gives him a bland smile. "If I can have my soulfinder killed, I'm sure I can deal with the loss of," He looks me over disdainfully. "Her. You know, to be honest, it's your fault, William, that she was ever locked up in the first place."

Will stiffens as my body slumps in the man's hold, all the fight leaving me at Dad's admission.

_If I can have my soulfinder killed..._

Oh my God, he ordered one of his men to kill Mom.

"What do you mean, it's my fault?" Will chokes out, staring at me and the gun pushing against my temple. I'm surprised I don't feel like crying anymore. Maybe my emotions have gone away, because all I feel now is this burning need to get Will away from this danger and a numbness that anyone could ever murder their soul mate.

"She wasn't supposed to be in there that long, I had assumed that you'd feel a tug or pull to the compound where she was held earlier, I thought you could help her escape in a few months, but instead I had to keep her in there for five years." Dad shakes his head in mock pity.

"Are you saying that you... you're the head of that place?" Karla steps forward, wide eyes staring at my father and probably wondering how someone could be so evil.

Dad nods. "Of course, do you actually think anyone else would be clever enough to consider experimenting on savants?" He grins a manic grin. "It's genius, really. Learning of all the abilities we can have, learning about the bond between savant families and soulfinders." He sighs in... ecstasy? "Testing on soulfinders is the best." He absent-mindedly scratches his head, staring at Saul and Karla. "Did you know that when hurting one savant, their soulfinder feels it, if they're very close?" He shakes his head. "Not physically close, that is. But, if savants know they're soulfinder well, have had sexual relations, they feel pain? Very interesting, really."

Xav's horrified voice sounds. "And you want to subject Crystal to that?!" He demands, unlike Will in the fact that he doesn't get sad when his soulfinder is threatened, he gets angry.

Dad shakes his head, giving another bland laugh. "God no, Crystal is too precious for that. There'll be other experiments on her." He assures, as if Xav should feel comfortable and should just hand Crystal over.

"Well there is no chance in hell you're getting her, you psychotic bastard!" Diamond suddenly screams, face red as she attempts to advance on my dad, but Trace holds her back.

I remember when Diamond used to be so calm and serene, now her chest is heaving with fury.

Dad looks to the guy to his left, who immediately holds up his gun, points and fires.

Not at Diamond.

Oh, no. That would be too sane.

Instead he points it right at the heart.

Trace's heart, that is.

And this man must have the ability of super aim, because the bullet doesn't miss, and it strikes the left side of Trace's chest, causing him to go flying off his feet and landing with a _thud_ on the ground. After the echo of the gun I hear the screaming of Diamond and Karla, and the shouts from Yves and Zed who rush over to him. Saul sprints over to him, followed by Phee and Sky, while Xav holds back a shrieking Crystal. He grabs her, crushing her to his chest and physically turning around so that his back is protecting her, if anybody else shoots. Uriel and Victor raise their own guns, keeping their weapons trained on Dad and his bodyguards as my eyes catch Will's.

And that one look says it all.

This is our fault.

Trace is dying, and it's our fault.

Diamond will be soulfinder-less, and it's our fault.

Karla and Saul will lose a son, and it's our fault.

Zed, Yves, Xav, Victor and Uriel will lose a brother, and it's our fault.

It's all our fault.

"Sorry to break up the moment, but we need to go. So if you just hand over Crystal, we'll give you Em, and we'll be on our way." Dad's bored voice drifts across the expanse between us, which causes Uriel and Victor to clench their jaws, guns trained on him. Saul, Yves and Zed spring up from Trace's side, glaring at him as Saul stalks forward.

"You are not getting Cry-"

_The lights, Emerald._

Will's voice invades my mind, causing me to reel and the man holding me to press the gun harder to my temple. Everybody else's voices fade away as I make eye contact with the Benedicts.

_What? _I send back to him, and his eyes flicker up to the artificial lights above us, the only source of illumination in the huge warehouse.

_Yves has an idea, he's going to explode them. They'll go out, and then we want you to work your magic._

_We? My magic? Will, what's happening?_

Everything's in slow motion. There's no noise, just Will's voice as I stare at his family, half of them crying while the other half are angrily hurling insults (well, they look like they're saying insults) at my dad. But Zed, Yves and Will all meet my eyes.

_Zed, Yves and I. The light's will go out, we'll get all our family to get down, while you take care of the rest. Our job is our family, your job is yours. _His eyes soften as he stares at me, taking me in.

_Wil-_

_I'm sorry, sweetheart, I am so sorry that I ever let you walk away, alright? But I love you and I'm getting you back, but the only way is if you make a choice. I don't want to be that dick of a boyfriend who makes his girlfriend choose him or her family, but you'll have as long as the lights are out to decide, we'll be out of the warehouse by then._ He gives me a weak smile and a shrug.

_Wil- _But I'm cut off again as the lights go out, and shouts and screams erupt from all around me.

I need to choose.

But, I made the choice a long time ago.

First is the idiot with the gun who's holding me, but I rip his arm away from me and then the gun sails through the air, and I hear the sound of it hitting a wall. Gun shots echo around the place, and I hear grunts and shouts of pain. The guy behind me tries to grab me, but closing my eyes I fling an arm out and with little effort he goes sailing through the air, I have no idea where he goes, all I know is that when I open my eyes, it's as dark as it was when they were closed, and that I don't hear the man move again.

"EMERALD!" The shout is from my dad, but I ignore him, focusing on the task at hand.

A sliver of light shines through the warehouse as I see the other door opening and the Benedicts start to rush out, and I'm not the only one to see.

"_Shoot them_!" My dad howls, and more gun shots go off, but none of them reach their targets, instead they all pause in mid-air before falling to the ground with little _tink_ sounds.

"_Emerald_." Dad growls, but I ignore him again as I take a deep breath, squeezing my fingernails into my palms as I close my eyes and _concentrate._

On the voices, the gun shots and the breathing around me.

Then... I release.

There's a ripple in the air, like a huge wave that flings out from me and crashes into all the men around me, causing them to fly towards the nearest wall and hold there. Slowly opening my eyes, I see them all struggling, all wriggling and some of them clawing at their throats, trying to grab some oxygen.

But they're not the problem, and I'm not going to kill them.

The problem, is my father.

My time in his house clued me in to the fact that Darren was the only one working for him because he wanted to, the rest worked with him because Dad forced them to. His ability taking their inhibitions away so that he could force them to stay with him. To protect him.

To kill for him.

Dad is up against a wall too, and like the others, he's scratching and clawing at his throat, not knowing what to do when he can't just tell someone to do something, to take their inhibitions away and force them to do something. His face is turning from red to a bluey-purple, the lack of oxygen making his eyes pop out and his legs to wriggle uselessly on the walls.

But he's _not dying fast enough_.

The other, innocent men, will die before he does, so I release them all from my hold, all of them falling to the ground and either sucking up the air and sobbing, or falling unconscious.

But Dad keeps struggling and struggling until...

Until he isn't anymore.

He isn't struggling.

He isn't kicking.

He just... isn't.

He's dead.

And the thing is, I felt more guilt after killing Darren, than I do for killing Dad.

_**Author's Note:**_

**Plot twist.  
**

**Don't hate me.**

**Please carry on reading.**

**If there's nothing else to carry on reading, wait thirty minutes, that's how long it takes for the website to process the new chapter.**

**Review and favourite!**

**Hope you enjoyed!:)**


	45. Chapter 45 Will

**Will**

"You asshole! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Diamond sobs into Trace's neck while Dad makes some calls and Mom wipes the tears from her face. Everyone else minus them, Victor and Uriel have gone back to the cars, waiting for whatever will happen next.

"I'm sorry, baby, okay? I'm sorry." Trace rubs her back gently, cooing as her shoulders shake with the gut-wrenching sobs she's heaving.

"I... th-thought you'd d-d-died." And she's off crying again. Trace just smiles, sheepishly.

"The powers of a bullet proof vest, I guess." He looks to me and I just roll my eyes, unable to hide my smile. Even though I had known he was wearing a bullet proof vest – that we _all_ were wearing bullet proof vests – my heart had stopped when he had gone down. Because for a second, I thought he was dead.

And I knew it would've been my fault.

I run my hands through my hair over and over, hearing grunts and shouts from inside the warehouse before silence. I know Emerald is still alive (I can feel it) but she could be hurt or kidnapped or anything. I thought I'd hate her, I thought I'd come tonight, get her back and then never speak to her again.

But seeing her... seeing her blew that idea out of the water.

Because I'm in love with her, and if she still loves me, I am not letting her go.

But now she's inside a building with _killers_.

And not just any killers, _savant_ killers.

With guns!

I am the worst soulfinder in world, not only do I let her go in the first place, but now I've sent her in there to possibly kill her father.

Yeah, agreeing with Yves and Zed's plan was stupid, but it had sounded smart when they told me it before.

"Will."

I spin around, hand stuck in my hair as I take her in. Her messy hair, her pale face, her shaking form and her big green eyes that told me what she's done.

"Oh, sweetheart." One second I'm away from her, the next I'm pulling her to me and crushing her against my chest, smelling her familiar scent and nuzzling my face in her red hair.

"Will, I killed him." Her voice is shaking, in fact, her whole _body_ is shaking.

"It's okay, sweetheart, it's okay." I murmur, rubbing her back as I hear my dad come up behind me.

"I've called the Net, they're sending guys over here to get the guys out of there, unless they're...?" I hear Dad's voice trail off, but Emerald answers him.

"They're alive, most of them are passed out in there, but... my dad's dead, and... there's a body in the field to the left of this place, a blonde guy, the one who came with my dad last, Darren Andrews, he... I killed him." She mumbles into my shirt, but nobody reacts, I just hear dad murmur his apologies for her loss before he walks into the warehouse, Uriel and Victor on his heels. Mom and Diamond help Trace up, he winces and gasps, rubbing his aching chest as they help him hobble over to the car, but I don't care, I just hold Emerald as she clings to me as if I'm her life-line.

Maybe I am, to her, maybe I am her life-line.

Finally, when her shaking subsides, I pull away from her, brushing my lips against her forehead.

"Are you okay now?" It's a stupid question, and I cringe the minutes it leaves my mouth, but Emerald just gives me a small smile.

"I'm good, I just want to go back home."

_Home_.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, Emerald Savage has called my home, _her_ home.

I'd fist pump, but I'd probably trip over my own feet and end up punching her in the face.

Instead, I just grin. I smile so wide I'm surprised my face doesn't split in half.

"Home? Yeah, yeah, don't worry, sweetheart, I'll take you home right now." Grabbing her hand, I lead her across the parking lot and to the car.

_**Author's Note:**_

**There's another chapter coming, give it a minute.  
**

**Please review and favourite.**

**Yay, Trace lives (I'd feel like a horrible person if I killed him off seeing as he isn't one of my characters, he's Joss Stirling's)!**

**Hope you enjoyed!:)**


	46. Chapter 46 Emerald

**Emerald**

It's not long before I reach up and crush my lips against his, not caring that we're in a car full with his family.

Screw them, I've got my soulfinder back.

The guilt gnaws at me, of course. I can never escape it, and I probably won't ever escape it. The guilt that my dad killed my mom, the guilt that I killed my dad, and the guilt that I killed Darren. The guilt that I'm here, now making-out happily with my soulfinder, while Darren is lying dead in a ditch, my mom is six-feet-under and my dad is lying motionless in that warehouse.

I'm going to have nightmares about that warehouse.

But my mind is quickly wiped blank as Will deepens the kiss, sending my pulse racing as he pulls me closer, stretching my seat belt so that I'm straddling him, my arms wrapped around his neck while his are brushing the hem of my shirt before finally skipping over my stomach to the edge of my bra.

"We have a rule in this car, William and Emerald." A voice calls from the front as our panting breaths become louder. "I'm not sure if either you are familiar with it, but, I'll tell you anyways. It's the "do-not-have-sex-in-my-car" rule, a bit of a cock-block, I'm aware, but I really don't want to clean my brother's seme-"

"Xav, I get it, okay?" Will pulls back and barks out, irritated. He then looks at me, grinning from ear-to-ear. His lips are purple and bruised from kissing, and I can't help but run my hands through his dark, floppy hair as he gives me another goofy grin.

"I know you should be the one saying this, Emerald, but your gun is digging into me." He chuckles and I frown, before remembering the heat packed in my dad's leather jacket that I'm still wearing.

I press my hand over it and wince, it must be some new, smaller gun that he designed or something, because it doesn't feel like a normal gun. But I keep my hands away from it, knowing I'll just hand it to Saul once we get back to the house.

"Hey, Sky-baby!" Zed suddenly exclaims from the middle section of the car. I can't tell you how funny I found it when we all piled into this "Soccer Mom" car, while Victor, Diamond, Trace, Karla and Saul got into a normal, black SUV. Xav's car for the night is pretty lame.

"Yeah?" Sky asks, and I turn from my straddling position on Will to see Zed pull her closer to him.

"You said that if Emerald didn't come back, you wouldn't kiss me until she did, remember?" He asks, shooting me a mock glare and Will guffaws loudly, making me bounce up and down.

Sky blushes. "Yes."

"Well... Emerald's back, so...?" He gives her a mischievous smile before she reaches up and kisses him, their lips molding together like they've done this a million times before (which they probably have).

"_Guys_." Xav groans from the driver's seat as he stops at a red light. "No fornication in the car!"

"Yeah," I agree, dryly. "Because it would totally ruin the Soccer Mom look."

Crystal chuckles before leaning into him and turning Xav's face to hers. "You're just jealous that I'm not kissing you."

Xav taps his chin, as if he's pondering that. "Well..."

But he doesn't finish the sentence, too caught up in Crystal's kiss to speak.

I turn back to Will who grins and pulls my face back to his, the three couples kissing passionately.

"Yves, I seriously think they're about to have sex." I hear Phee laugh out, as she's the third person in our row.

"I know, I think Sky and Zed are about to do the dirty here, too." I hear Yves' voice form in front of us. I pull back from Will – who groans in irritation – and turn around to look at Yves and Phee who just shrug. Yves then turns around in his seat and sits up, leaning over the chair and kisses Phee who replies immediately. Will's hands slip to my hip and as I survey the car with a smile, my heart plummets as I see Uriel in the front, beside Xav and Crystal who are swapping saliva like it's the last day on this planet. He just stares out the window, blowing on it and then drawing stick men in the condensation.

I clear my throat.

"Xav, if you two could break it up for a minute, we need to get back to the house." I tell him, voice a little husky.

Xav and Crystal break apart as a horn blares behind us – Saul's horn, no less – and Xav groans as he starts driving again

Sky/Zed and Yves/Phee are still playing tonsil tennis so I sigh.

"Seriously, you're not cats. Do you want me to start spraying you with water so you stop kissing, or will you just stop by yourselves?" I say irritably, and Sky jerks away from Zed, her cheeks red and her eyes glazed over as he flashes me a smirk before twisting a lock of her hair around his finger.

"Yves, Phee, you too." Will says from beneath me, tapping his brother's head, but Yves waves his hand away, too invested in the kiss.

"Guys!" Xav yells from the front, causing me to jump. "I know you want to consummate your marriage but _not in this car_!"

Phee and Yves finally pull back, Yves blushing and fixing his hair and glasses while Phee crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at everybody.

"Our sex life is none of your business, you pervert!" She hollers right back, and I see Xav roll his eyes in the rearview mirror.

"Or lack-there-of." He mutters, but we all hear him and can't contain our chuckles.

* * *

When we arrive back to the Benedict household, The three couples sprint off into the house, all going to do God knows what. But their obvious love has me smiling to myself as Will and I slowly make our way to the house. Uriel follows us.

We all raise our eyebrows as Victor stalks past us, shoulders hunched over and feet stomping.

"What's up, ma-" Uriel asks, voice and face full of concern, but Victor cuts him off with a snarl.

"Shut up."

Will looks to me while I just shrug, and as Saul and Diamond pass us out holding a hobbling Trace (note-to-self: ask Trace how he's still breathing after a bullet to the heart, might come in handy some day) and Karla follows, holding the front door open for us, we turn and look to Uriel, who closes the door as he's the last one in.

He sees our looks and sighs, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it on the rack by the door, Will follows suit.

"He's just angry. He wants his soulfinder and all that." Uriel sighs again, rubbing his face tiredly. "You've been there, you know."

I do know, and I know that it sucks.

We all walk into the house, following the bunch of people. I feel a slight vibration in the jacket I'm wearing, and I freeze.

_Why is the gun vibrating?_ I think, but then I roll my eyes at myself as I sit down with the family. It's probably my dad's phone.

I just sit there and ignore it, fiddling with the hem of the jacket. Uriel sees this and chuckles softly.

"You forgot to hang up your jacket." He rolls his eyes with a kind smile, smiling past his obvious ache for his soulfinder. He stands up and walks towards me. "Here, give it to me, I'll hang it up."

He ignores my protests and takes it, walking out of the living room and to the other end of the house where the front door is.

Will grins from beside me. Obviously not close enough, he plucks me off my seat and sits me on his lap. I brush a kiss against his cheek and he grins at me.

"What now?" I ask and he shrugs.

"I don't know. Summer will end, I'm supposed to go back to college in Denver, but I guess I'll go wherever you want." He gives me a dopey grin while I shake my head, smiling.

"Don't give up college. I'll go there with you."

"What? College?" He frowns. "But you didn't finish school. Is there a course you want to take there?"

I shrug, heart racing at the endless possibilities set out in front of us. "I don't know, maybe. I was just thinking about getting a part-time job or something."

Will grins, pulling me closer. "Whatever you want, I'll help you with it."

My heart melts as I stare at him. "Thanks." I breathe out.

His face mirrors mine. "Your welcome, and..." He sucks in a breath and his Adam's apple bobs as he swallows. "And, I love you."

I grin as he turns a little red. "You know, j-just in case you had any reservations or d-doubt-"

I brush my lips against his, pulling back and grinning. "I love you to-

_BOOM!_

The sound has the frame of the house shaking, pictures falling from the walls and cups crashing out of cabinets, mirrors breaking and crashing to the ground along with all the glass from every window shattering.

"What the hell?!" Zed shouts, clutching Sky to him, his eyes find Saul's who shrugs before we all freeze, the air leaving our lungs.

A horrible, piercing, agony-filled scream sounds from the front of the house, and before I can even think, I'm running towards it.

It carries on and on and on, making my ears hurt as my shoes slap against the floor, the thumps of feet sounding behind me clue me into the fact that the family are following me.

As we get closer I realise there's a fire, the black, noxious smoke forcing me to pull my top up and over my nose, my eyes watering as I plow forward and into it, bits of plaster on the ground, but with my super strong telepathy it goes flying out of my path as dread settles in the pit of my stomach.

The screaming is so loud now that it's all I hear, all I focus on as I come to the source of the flames, the fire and the screaming.

The sickly sweet scent that smells of cooking meat, I realise, is flesh burning, and as Saul comes from behind me with one fire extinguisher and Victor with another, they both stop dead in their tracks.

Victor falls to his knees and crawls towards Uriel as Uriel's shouts of pain quiets and he slowly passes out, eyes rolling into the back of his head. Uriel is laying on his front, and I realise the burning smell of flesh is coming from him, from his back. It's so messed up...

I look away instantly, my eyes trying to find the source of the fire as the rest of the family file in behind me, Saul shouting out orders to call an ambulance and fire brigade as people start trying to put out the fire with fire extinguishers.

I just stand there, in the front of the house with the fire slowly dying as Uriel lies with the worst burns I've ever seen on his back and maybe other places too. And finally, my eyes find what caused all this, and it all clicks into place.

Scraps of the burnt leather jacket lay near the staircase and my heart sinks, the bile rising up my throat.

There wasn't a gun or a phone in the pocket of my dad's jacket.

There was a bloody bomb.

_**Author's Note:**_

**... Yes... that is actually how I'm ending it.  
**

**Now, you may ask that question because you want to know what the hell is going to happen to Uriel, or because you think it was a crap ending. Either way, this fanfiction is over, and I am relieved.**

**_Very_ relieved.**

**There were many times when I was just like "Hm... how about I just don't finish it? Yes, that's a very good idea, let's not finish it. There are too many things to do. Shows to watch, books to read, things to reblog and sunlight to hide from."**

**But, considering I started it, I thought, "let's just finish it for the craic." Which is basically the attitude of every Irish person ever (usually involving alcohol "Seamus, there's seven litres of Budweiser here, what do we do with it?" "I say we just finish it for the craic, Connor.") **

**Abandoning Rain's first chapter has been uploaded! YAYAYAYAYAYAY! So check that out if you want, also, the summary sucks because I literally had no idea what to write and when I did it was too long so just check it out, because I promise it's better than what the summary says.  
**

**Please review, whether it's your first or last time, it means a lot. And even if you're reading this and it's been three years since I uploaded this, still review, because it's still going to make me happy.**

**I hope you actually did enjoy this, and I hope you continue to enjoy any fanfics I do in the future if you read them.**

**Adios amigo, I've had fun (kinda, not really, okay a little bit, yeah it was good).**

**I hope you enjoyed! :')**


End file.
